


A Different Fate

by Legendsofkrypton



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-04
Updated: 2015-06-29
Packaged: 2017-12-31 10:39:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 39,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1030710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Legendsofkrypton/pseuds/Legendsofkrypton
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if Peeta was reaped in the 73rd Hunger Games? What if Katniss was injured and unable to volunteer for Prim? What happens to the outcome of the games when Onyx Rose changes the fate of all she meets and how will the tributes react by the rebels cutting the games off early.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Story going under construction  
> Rewritten*

_“Ladies first” echoed around the town square of District Twelve as Effie Trinket slowly twirled her hand around the girls tribute bowl of District Twelve, ready to condemn a young girl and boy to die in the 74 th Hunger Games. So many little slips of paper in the bowl that held different names, some holding at least ten names of some tributes due to tesserae._

_Both tributes last year, Peeta Mellark and Serena Black, had died within moments of entering the arena like all tributes from this district, everyone had thought that Peeta would at least give District Twelve a chance of having a tribute last longer than five minutes but it never happened._

_Effie plucked out a small piece of paper and slowly opened it unaware of the tension and fear that this small action evoked around the square, to her this was just a form of entertainment._

_“Primrose Everdeen”_

_There was only silence for a half a breath, there wasn’t even enough time for it to sink into the heads of some of the people of the district that the young girl with a goat was reaped to die for sport._

_“I volunteer as tribute!”_

* * *

Her eyes shot open as she heard movement in the other room, she couldn’t remember where she was this time, looking around she remembered that the Everdeen's had decided to go against every thing and had housed her last night.

The reaping was today, a horror filled ceremony where two children were sent off to kill or be killed as entertainment, people only ever allowed Onyx to stay in their houses for a night if the reaping was the next morning, they had decided that she had needed somewhere where she could sleep peacefully (with less of a chance of being caught outside unable to find shelter). The peacekeepers were sometimes lenient when it came to Onyx but half the time they let her be unless it was reaping day.

“Onyx, are you awake?” Katniss whispered lightly as the older girl came through the house softly, wincing lightly as she moved a little too harshly.

“Yeah” the younger girl replies just as quietly as she stretched the kinks out of her muscles from where she slept on the run down couch of the Everdeens home.

Katniss smiled lightly, her grey eyes watched the fourteen year old in front of her wearily. Onyx had the mixed look of a seam girl and a town girl, her stormy grey eyes had flecks of blue dotted in them while her raven black hair flowed down her back. The older girl sighed with a wince, due to the trip off of her roof two days ago, her ribs were broken and the peacekeepers in her district were still complete pricks and put her name into the bowl anyway even with her wounds.

Onyx climbed off of the couch and pulled her well-worn boots onto her feet ready for a morning of hunting before she faced another year of terror. She was looking forward to her little hunting trip with the older girl and Gale, she rarely went out with the two because she often went alone in the night to keep from getting caught sleeping outside by the rougher peacekeepers.

“How’s Prim?” Onyx asked quietly as they walked through the empty roads towards the electric fence that never in fact held electric.

Katniss sighed “She isn’t good, she was asleep next to mum when I got up, so she must have had a bad dream last night”

The both girls went into silence once again as they walked through the forest, Katniss grabbed a bow from a hollow log as Onyx pulled out one from the branches of a fallen tree. They both grinned at each other as they travelled towards their spot over-looking the valley around them.

Katniss was the best shot out of the two of them but Onyx had learned how to wield a weapon, mainly a bow or a knife. So it was always nice to see how better she got when she was with Katniss after so long of hunting alone.

“Hey girls” A voice said from the rocks above them, “Look what I caught”

Onyx grinned up at Gale as he showed the two of them a bread roll with an arrow sticking out of it. She watched as Katniss quickly grabbed it off of him and smelled it, sighing as the smell of fresh bread filled her nose and the heat of the roll warmed the tips of her fingers.

The older girl ripped part of it off of the roll and passed it to Onyx who grinned a thank you at her before taking a bite and looking around her at the freedom that the forest provided, she loved staying in the forest at night when it was warm and clear but always had to go back to the district before anyone had noticed she had disappeared, she would be followed otherwise.

“Thank you Prim” she heard Gale say, showing that she’d missed a conversation between her companions but she smiled as she saw the goats cheese in Katniss’ hand. She didn’t mind though, it was normal for her to drift off around them because it was easier for her to distance from them when the peacekeepers got too bad with their rules.

The three of them sat on the rocks, Gale and Katniss spoke with each other while Onyx closed her eyes and listened to the birds in the trees rather than the words spoke around her. She felt a tap on her shoulder and smiled at Gale who had his hand offered out to her to pull her up so that they could hunt before the reaping this afternoon.

She was at home when she was in the forest and watching her friends and possibly the closest things to siblings hunt made her smile as she watched them catching the squirrels and birds and then finding all the berries.

Ducking back under the fence was just as easy as ducking into the meadow towards the forest, Onyx watched as Katniss and Gale split their catch between the three of them, she caught Gale adding a bit more to her pile causing her to roll her eyes, he did this every time that they hunted together even though he knew that she had an income when the Hunger Games were off.

 “Hey, Nyx why don’t head down to the hob, either we’ll catch you up or see you at mine” Onyx looked at Katniss at the suggestion and nodded taking her things from Katniss, she knew why the two of them wanted her to head off instead of stay with them; they were heading to the mayor’s office and she knew the mayor couldn’t turn a blind eye if she was right next to him and would need to send her to the community home.

She knew Katniss and Gale wanted to protect her but it often got really annoying, she was fourteen and they seemed to think she was still the nine year old girl they met when their fathers died in the mines. She could hold her own, she wasn’t a weak little girl, being an orphan and dodging the peacekeepers made sure that she wasn’t weak.

Smiling lightly as she entered the old warehouse that housed the Hob, Onyx felt at home as she spotted the vendors all trading and bartering with their customers. She instantly heads to Greasy Sae’s stall and grins when she hears the old woman scolding Darius.

“What have you done now Darius?” Onyx smirks as she jumps up onto one of the stools, her bag being moved onto her lap as Sae grins down at the young girl on the stool.

Darius huffs at the smirk that was being sent his way and ruffles the young girls’ hair as she sits next to him. “Apparently I’m as bad as you when it comes to eating so she thinks she needs to feed me up with, what was it again?, ah yes wild dog stew”

The teen laughs at the grimace that Darius sported when speaking about the wild dog stew, Onyx knew that Darius grew up on better but he ate the food when he was given it and would buy it from Sae just to give the older woman some money.

Sae huffs and swats Darius’ head lightly with her spoon before serving Onyx a full bowl of stew, grumbling as Onyx hands her over some berries and squirrels, she never really liked accepting stuff from the girl because she didn’t really have much but Onyx was stubborn.

“Thanks Sae” Onyx smiles lightly as she starts to eat the stew, it was an acquired taste but she was used to it by now, she spent most of her time in the Hob so they all knew her by name and seemed to care for enough not to let her starve. After all it was Sae and Ripper who were the ones to get her a job.

“Hey kiddo, try and stay safe today yeah?” Darius orders lightly as he ruffles Onyx’s hair.

Onyx looked over at Darius surprised and swats his hand away halfhearted, of course she’d end up having a peacekeeper as a friend, and at least it was Darius, the peacekeeper who hated being a peacekeeper.

“No promises” Onyx tells Darius with a small smile as the man rolls his eyes at her and disappears into the maze that was the Hob.

“Never thought I would see a decent peacekeeper until that boy arrived” Sae muses as she watches the young girl finish her food, she twitches lightly as she holds back the need to fill the bowl back up but she needed to make a living too and she knew the girl needed to trade with other people.

Onyx shrugs lightly as she hands the bowl over to Sae with a small smile “He’s a good guy, one of the few I trust not to send me to the hell hole, I’ll see you later Sae and Katniss and Gale will be here in a little bit”

Sae smiles and nods in understanding before shooing the girl away. Onyx waves lightly at the old woman and heads straight to Rippers stall, even though she didn’t drink the stuff that was sold there, she knew someone who did.

“Hey Ripper” Onyx greets lightly as she takes out half of the rest of strawberries from her bag. While the others preferred to trade for money and such, Ripper loved strawberries but could never get them, not fresh anyway so Onyx could make a good trade with her. “How much he owe?”

Ripper looks up from where she was bottling up a small bottle of her liquor, her gaze moves down to the girls hands and smiles lightly as she spots the strawberries. She was always surprised when the girl came along and paid for some of her best customers’ debt with her strawberries and trade.

“We got you that job so that you could pay to live yourself, not pay his debt” Ripper points out to the girl as she rolls her eyes and takes the strawberries from her carefully.

Onyx smiles at the woman “I use the money for food and for housing, I use my catch to pay his debt because he tends to forget, we both know that”

Ripper rolls her eyes again before nodding, of course she knew that. “Go and get yourself sorted for today”

Onyx smiles at the older woman and disappears into the maze of stalls that Darius had disappeared into earlier on, she stops by at the clothing stall and barters her last remaining pieces of money to get a dress that she could wear to look okay. The Capitol always wanted the children going into the reaping to look nice, she remembered the black eye she got the only time she ever looked bad when going into the square so always tried to look okay.

Getting back to the Everdeen house, Onyx smiles at Prim and Mrs Everdeen who smiles back lightly and leaves her alone to get cleaned and dressed for the hell that they were about to go through.

Onyx stood a few lines behind Prim who twisted her hands nervously behind her back, Onyx smiled as she saw the tail of Prims shirt sticking out of her skirt. She looked over to Gale who smiled at her and nodded his head towards the stage so that she would pay attention to what was being said. She rolled her eyes at Gale as he moves his gaze to Katniss and mouths the first line to the annoying film that they constantly had to watch and grimaces as Effie’s voice met her ears.

“Ladies first” Effie plucked out a small piece of paper and slowly opened “Primrose Everdeen”

There was only silence for a half a breath, there wasn’t even enough time for it to sink into the heads of some of the people of the district that the young girl with a goat was reaped to die for sport.

 “I volunteer as tribute!” Onyx called out in distress before Katniss could and before the peacekeepers could even move towards the young girl who was unfortunate enough too chosen.


	2. Chapter Two

Silence was all that could be heard around the square, eyes turned to the young orphan girl of District Twelve who was the only child to evade the orphanage. Many of the adults grew sad at the thought that they had to watch the fourteen year old who did chores for them, die on screen as entertainment for the rich.

Prim ran to Onyx and clung to her waist as tears slowly soaked Onyx's shirt, she looked down at the young girl and squeezed her tight.

"Go to your mum and Katniss quickly" Onyx whispered carefully to the young girl in her arms.

Prim looked up at her with watery eyes and then ran to her mum and sister throwing her arms around them as they held her tight. Not letting her go in fear that she would be pulled from them and sent to her death.

"Well, yes" Effie stammered as she tried to get over her shock at a District Twelve child volunteering. "Up you come dear"

Peacekeepers moved either side of her and boxed her in so that there would be no chance of her running away from her 'service' to Panem.

Onyx took a deep breath and made her way up onto the stairs, she looked at the chairs and gave a small sigh of relief that Haymitch, the only victor from Twelve that was still alive, was currently not on the stage where he should be.

Effie Trinket smiled at her and held out her hand to pull Onyx closer.

"Well then what is your name?" Effie asked curiously.

"Onyx Rose" she answered, a small shake in her voice.

"Lets hear it for our young volunteer"

Silence answered Effie, not a single child or adult clapped for the bravery of the fourteen year old.

Effie was taken back slightly, but almost let out a shriek when Haymitch come stumbling up behind her, almost knocking over the male tributes bowl.

Haymitch looked over at the Onyx and flinched as he caught her gaze, then he glared at her causing her to look away quickly.

Haymitch threw his arm around Onyx and glared at the peacekeepers and the cameras.

"See this, this is bravery, braver than all of you, all of you" he stumbled and fell into his chair and knocking his head on the pillar behind him, he groaned and fell into a drunken sleep. Onyx had to bite her lip from laughing at him.

Effie gave Haymitch a glare and then turned to the male tribute bowl.

Onyx looked over to Gale who had his eyes closed, then over at the Everdeens, Katniss locked eyes with her and sent her a look full of gratitude, love and despair. Onyx sent a soft smile her way with a nod of her head.

"Dustin Reed" Effie called out

A fifteen year old town boy shakily exited the crowd of young men who all let out sighs and inaudiable laughs of relief. Dustin walked up onto the stage and stood next to Effie as his body shook with fear.

"Do we have any volunteers for this young man?"

Silence came again, Dustin closed his eyes, he knew that his older brother would not volunteer for him and neither would any of his friends.

"Lets have a round of applause for the District Twelve tributes for the 74th annual Hunger Games" Effie cheered, but she was once again only met with silence.

The peacekeepers boxed the two teens off again and escorted them to the Justice Building. Onyx had been there once before when she was nine, when she was presented with a medal, after her father had been blown up in a mine explosion. That was when she first met Katniss, they and Gale had all lost their fathers in that same accident.

Onyx stood in the room that they had put her in, and jumped slightly when the door opened and something - someone - collided with her waist, holding onto her tightly. Looking down she could see the blonde hair of Prim as she cried into her. Onyx looked up and was pulled into a hug by both Everdeen women.

"Thank you, thank you" Katniss cried, Onyx was shocked, she knew that the last time that Katniss cried was when she was eleven and her father had died.

"I couldn't let Prim go into the games" Onyx told the women. "I wouldn't watch you suffer through that, my ma and pa are gone, my only regret is Mitch, being put through this"

The door opened and Darius informed them with a frown that their time was up, the friendly peacekeeper nodded to Onyx as he left and not long later, Gale and Rory Hawthorne entered the room; Gale pulled her into a tight hug, once he let go of her, little Rory did the same.

"You shouldn't have done that" Gale told her gently but thankful of her actions

She smiled at him " I know, Gale Katniss needs you she'll be plagued by the fact that she was unable to be the one to volunteer for Prim, take the leap and ask her out, help keep her sane"

Gale chuckled and gave her one last hug before pulling Rory out with him.

Onyx sighed and sat down on the chair waiting for the peacekeepers to come and take her to the train, she knew that no one else would come visit her because she truly had no one else.

The peacekeepers were ones she didn't know so they went to the train in silence. She could see that Dustin was finding it hard to keep his tears at bay, so she took his hand in hers and gave it a light squeeze.

Effie took them onto the train and pointed them into the direction of their bedrooms, Dustin went straight to his and Effie left to talk to the train driver. Onyx moved one of the chairs to the window and watched the scenery pass her, she jumped when someone grabbed her arm, pulling her up from the chair soon she was spun around to face a very angry Haymitch.

"What the hell do you think you were playing at Nyx?" He growled angrily, he was less drunk than he was on stage.

"I couldn't sit there and watch Prim die, she is the only thing keeping Katniss and Ms Everdeen alive" Onyx defended

"And you're the only thing keeping me alive dammit" Haymitch snarled and then backtracked, he groaned.

Onyx watched the man she came to see as an uncle curiously, Haymitch was one of the main reasons that she was still alive, he let her into his house as a cleaner once a week, although by the time she went back, it looked like she'd never done anything. He paid her a nice price every week so she would be able to eat enough to survive and often pay for a roof over her head; but she always thought that she was the only one to see him as family she didn't expect it to happen in reverse.

"I'm sorry Haymitch, I didn't think before I volunteered, I just couldn't bare to let little Prim go into these games, you know I can shoot a bow and arrow, I'll try my hardest to win for you"

"I can see that you didn't think darlin" Haymitch sighed as he sunk into a chair next to the bar. He grabbed a glass and poured himself a small glass of liquor and a glass of fruit juice for Onyx.

"You have to be careful in these games Onyx, I'll help you figure out how to get sponsors, but you have to behave and pay attention to what people are telling you okay, no ignoring them" Haymitch pinned her with a look causing her to blush with a nod

"Behave and listen, got it" Onyx echoed "I'm going to go have a lie down"

Haymitch nodded and watched his surrogate daughter leave the train cart towards her bedroom, he sighed and downed the rest if his glass then looked between the bottle of liqour behind the bar and the untouched fruit juice, he grumbled and grabbed the fruit juice. He needed to stay sober enough to make sure he helped his daughter stay alive. 


	3. Chapter Three

Onyx sighed as she opened her eyes the next morning, she curled into the warmth of the silky sheets that surrounded her, and she didn't like the softness of the bed that she was cocooned up in so she climbed out of bed with a groan; it was the first time in months that she actually felt refreshed when waking up so she had a feeling that she’s most likely slept longer than she should have.

She headed into the shower straight away, she was too tired to figure out the buttons before going to bed so she needed to wash now. The water flowed down over her body, the heat cascading around her as the steam had no exit until she left the shower, she hoped that along with the hot water that left the shower down the drain, her fears would too but to no avail.

She looked outside of the train as she left her bedroom and noticed that it was early morning, probably earlier than when most of the Capitol would get up, so she had no expectations at Effie being awake at this time.

'Haymitch didn't wake me for food last night' Onyx mused as she continued her slow journey down to the food cart 'but I also missed the Reaping's'

Onyx stood in the doorway of the food cart and looked in, she was surprised to see that Effie was actually awake and dressed in a bright blue outfit with make up to match, it was a little blinding but Onyx guessed that she would have to get used to the fashion sense of the Capitol sooner or later. Dustin wasn't there though so he was probably asleep, hopefully forgetting all of his trouble for a few hours.

'He must still be asleep, he should take advantage of the late mornings while he can' she thought to herself.

Effie looked up from her food and was shocked to see Onyx in the doorway, the young girl looked older than fourteen this morning, she was out of the old blue cotton dress and was now dressed in a pair of black flowing trousers and a silk purple short sleeved shirt.

'Capitol clothes look good on her' Effie thought to herself as she eyed the combination of clothes, purple was a good colour for the girl, she was going to have to mention that to whoever was the young girls stylist this year.

"Come, sit" Effie told the girl motioning to the seat across from her.

Onyx smiled lightly as she sat down, she looked at the table in front of her and her eyes widened at the amount of food that was on the table, the food could have fed the Everdeens and the Hawthorne's for a few days and yet there were only four people eating the food from this table. She placed a few bits of bacon and sausage on her plate and some bread. She looked up in silence when a young man poured her a cup of tea.

Effie looked at the portion of food with concern, she did not often pay much attention to the tributes because she did not want to have to watch the children that she had gotten close to die. But seeing the amount of food the young girl had on her plate considering she didn’t eat last night caused her a little bit of concern

"Haymitch tried to wake you for food last night but was unable to" Effie told the young girl who nodded as she ate her food "I'm afraid you missed the reaping's though"

"Where is Haymitch?" Onyx asked quietly after finishing the food that was in her mouth. While most children she knew didn’t have manners, her ma had taught her from an early age to be a lady even though they lived in the seam.

Effie grimaced at the mention of the victor of twelve but was very surprised when she noticed the young girl had manners, she was glad that she didn’t need to watch the girl act like an animal that the previous tributes always did "Most probably passed out in his bed, he went to 'watch the reaping's' in his room last night, and I haven't seen him since"

"I did watch the reaping's last night, then fell asleep" A tired grumpy voice said from behind Onyx causing the girl to look over her shoulder at the man.

Haymitch dropped himself down into the chair between Onyx and Effie and grabbed some food. Effie looked at the mentor surprised as she noticed that he was sober and seemed to have been for the night. He looked at Onyx's plate and upon deciding that she wasn't eating enough, put some more on with a look at the young girl.

Onyx scowled at Haymitch then dropped her gaze to the extra food on her plate, she huffs lightly but accepts the food without arguing, she knew it would be useless to argue.

Effie looked at the two of them confused, she had never seen Haymitch actually pay attention to a tribute but ever since the girl volunteered she could see a difference in the man, the confused look causes Haymitch to sigh and make a motion with his hand signalling he'd explain to her later on.

"Nyx, I recorder the reaping's last night so that you can watch them before we arrive in the Capitol" Haymitch told the young girl as he poured himself a coffee waving away the Avox who had come to the table

"When do we arrive?" she asked in reply as she picked at her food

Haymitch frowned "Considering how early you are up, you'll most likely be able to watch the reaping's and then spend a little while doing whatever until we arrive"

Onyx nodded, she picked up her cup of tea and left the dining cart without asking Haymitch's permission, she knew she was going to get a little lecture for not eating more but she couldn’t stomach it, an Avox showed her the way to the cart where she would be able to watch the reaping's.

She whimpered silently as she watched a brute of a boy volunteer in District Two, the girl in his district also looked deadly; she mentally made notes on who to look out for in the games including The Careers. When District six was on Haymitch joined her with a plate of food which he had placed on her lap with a glare causing her to pout.

"You need to eat" Haymitch told her with a glare as he dropped down beside her, his arm over her shoulder, he had explained a little to Effie that he knew Onyx from the town but that’s all he told her.

"I'm not hungry" she whispered to her 'father' as she leaned into his side even though she did pick at the food on the plate

Haymitch lifted her chin so that she was looking at him. "What did I say yesterday?"

Onyx frowned as she tried to recall the conversation then she sighed taking a small amount of toast between her fingers and popping into her mouth "To behave and listen"  
Haymitch nodded in confirmation as he watched her eat. "Exactly and you need to eat to keep you healthy and strong"

Sighing, she nodded and started to slowly pick the food from her plate, she let a single tear fall down her cheek as she watched a small twelve year old be reaped from District Eleven and was met by the sound of birds chirping when asked for a volunteer. Then came the District Twelve Reaping, she could hear the surprise in the commentators voice when she volunteered for Prim.

"This looks like it's going to be an interesting year" The commentator told the audience at the end of the reaping's the sound of surprise in the man’s voice after he caught himself from losing composure on cameras.

"It really is" Haymitch muttered to himself as he traced small shapes on the girls arm to calm the both of them down.

Onyx stayed curled up in Haymitch's side for a few minutes after the recording ended trying to wrap her head around everything she had just watched and who she was going to have to go up against or lose her life too.

"Mitch?" she inquired and was answered with a hum of acknowledgement "Do I have to keep this a secret?"

Haymitch looked down at his daughter curiously before catching onto her line of thinking, he had kept her a secret since he met her four years ago, and he knew that it was a well-kept secret, only two families knew of their relationship as well as the two stall holders from the Hob and they kept silent so that Onyx wouldn’t get dragged into hell.

"No darling, no more keeping it a secret" he told her as he tightened his grip around her lightly.

'At least if I die I'll be recognised as the daughter of Haymitch Abernathy' Onyx thought not knowing that the same thought ran through Haymitch's mind too.

As they pulled into the station of the Capitol, Onyx could see people trying to get a glance at the tributes on the train. Onyx looked through the window before ducking her head in shock, she didn’t realize that there would be so many people, she pops her head up again a little and waves lightly, but refused to be happy to see them.

“Overwhelming isn’t it” Haymitch grumbles lightly from the table where Dustin and Effie sat, Effie watched the young girl amused at just how overwhelmed she had become.

“They come here every games?” Onyx asks softly as she turns away from the window only to scowl at her father’s nod

When they reached an empty part of the station, Onyx and Dustin were taken away from Effie and Haymitch to be prepared, ready for the opening ceremony that evening.

Onyx looked back at her father who didn't seem to want to be split from her, she could see him clenching his fists at his side as soon as the peacekeepers put their hands onto her arms to move her away from the Victor.

After the lasts strip of hair was removed from her body, Onyx let out a sigh of relief that was heard by her prep team, they all let smiles reach their faces as they looked over at the young volunteer, they were used to the tributes grumbling and groaning and whining every time they had to do their job but the young girl stayed silent and even apologised if she moved too much, it was nice to see a tribute with manners.

"Please tell me that was the last wax strip" Onyx pleaded lightly as she watched the flamboyant stylists pull away and whisper between each other

Octavia, one of her prep team with bright orange curls, smiled at her. She seemed amused by her reactions.

"That was the last strip dear, we'll just shape your nails then hand you over to Cinna. He wants you looking plain when he sees you" She explained to her as they moved to grab their manicure kits.

She nodded as Flavius and Venia got to work on each of her hands. After a few minutes she was left standing bare in a small room waiting for her stylist to arrive. She grimaced slightly, she hoped that this year, she wouldn't be naked and covered with coal dust because the stylists never really had any imagination when it came to the coal district.

Although there was no imagination when it came to the subject of coal, the fuel was boring and plain.

'Cinna' she thought 'I haven't heard that name in the games before'

The door opened startling Onyx slightly as she turned to face the newcomer, in walked a young man, he was surprisingly bare from any extravagant features that Capitol stylists often wore, the only thing he wore was gold eyeliner around his eyes which suited him perfectly.

Cinna sighed as he looked at the fourteen year old in front of him, he had watched the reaping’s carefully and when he saw the young girl volunteer his heart nearly broke for her courage and selflessness.

"That was very brave" he told her as he handed her a robe, sitting her down across from him.

Onyx shrugged as she sent a small smile of gratitude at the robe. "Everyone just says congratulations"

Cinna grimaced, he truly hated the Capitol when it came to the games which is why he wanted District Twelve as his tributes "well I'm not everyone, did you know the little girl?"

Onyx smiled slightly at his grimace, she was right at her first impression of the man, he was not a normal Capitol citizen "Yes"

The stylist shook his head at the curt answer from the young girl, he understood why the young girl was keeping information to herself, she hadn't long him so had no reason to trust him and if the situations were reversed then he would most likely do the same.

"Now for the costume tonight" Cinna started and noted with amusement that while her fingers were crossed in her lap but he could see them twitch as the mention of the costumes for the opening ceremony. "District Twelve is coal, yes?"

Onyx nodded biting her lip softly, oh great, she was going to be stuck in a coal miner’s outfit or be dressed as a piece of coal or something.

"Well what happens after you burn coal, as the fire dies down?" Cinna asked causing Onyx to look at him confused, she did not expect a question like that "What do you get?"


	4. Chapter Four

Onyx stood nervously in a flowing black dress that reached her ankles, the bodice of the dress clinging to her frame, the dress had a slit that travelled up her leg to her thigh but she wore black leggings beneath the dress. Dustin was stood next to her in a tight black jumpsuit, she knew that it looked less intricate than hers but it suited the boy anyway.

According to Cinna and his partner Portia, the suits, once turned on, will have small bursts of fire come out of them but it will mainly look like the embers that burn as a fire dies. Cinna had claimed that he was going to do fire on its own but for some reason changed his mind a few weeks ago. Onyx was worried that she would burn before the games would even begin but Cinna kept reassuring her that they would be fine, that is was synthetic flames.

They were waiting for the all clear to climb onto the carriages, the other tributes were around her, all immersed in their own conversations, she could tell some of them and the mentors were gathering intel and impressions, she was soon pulled out of her own musings as she felt someone put their arm around her shoulder. Looking up Onyx saw her dad smiling down at her lightly, she held onto his side taking in the lingering smell of the alcohol that had not yet faded from him to try and calm her nerves before they had to be put on parade.

"You look beautiful" he told her quietly in her ear.

Onyx smiled lightly up at him, Cinna hadn't wanted her to wear too much make up, and so she just had red eyeliner around her eyes and blush on her cheeks to give her some colour, they had tried to put some lipstick on her but the shades they had just wouldn’t mix with her pale skin which frustrated her stylists but made her laugh.

She looked around her again and soon noticed that a few of the mentors watched her and her dad with either disgust or confusion on their faces causing her to frown lightly in confusion, the little tribute from eleven was watching her so she gave a small wave and received one in return making her smile lightly. Then when she looked up the noticed that the brute from two had his eyes on her, his eyes held something akin to curiosity but also disgust as he eyed Haymitch next to her.

Soon Cinna was ordering the two of them onto their carriage after sending Haymitch a small scathing look which made Onyx falter for a moment in surprise, Haymitch helped her up onto the carriage carefully and then watched in awe as a small flicker of synthetic flame came out of the bottom of the dress trailing upwards around her.

"Knock them dead darling" he told his daughter with a small proud look as the carriage started to move behind the others.

* * *

  
Onyx sat up on the edge of the roof looking over at the Capitol, many of the citizens were partying and celebrating the start of the games which disgusted Onyx, Rue was only twelve and was most likely going to meet her end in the games, the youngest winner being Finnick Odair at fourteen. Celebrating twenty four children going to their deaths for their entertainment was despicable and disgusting and she hated it. The opening ceremony for the games went by quickly for her, the only thing that she could remember was the looks that the boy from two kept sending her, he was curious, disgusted, and there was something else too.

"Should you be up here on your own?" A male voice asked from behind her pulling her from her thoughts.

Onyx jumped slightly and whipped her head around quickly to the source of the noise. When she saw the brute from two leaning on the wall of the building with a smirk she quickly jumped up and backed away a little which was probably a bad idea but he startled her.

"Should you?" Onyx shot back annoyed as she eyes him wearily assessing him for things she could use for any advantage over him during the games but he held himself strong and menacingly, she couldn’t notice anything that she could use against him.

The boys smirk widened at the look that she was giving him, he figured that she was scared rather than assessing, no sewer rat from twelve was smart enough to assess their enemy in his opinion. "I'm surprised your mentor let you stop warming his bed for him"

Onyx shuddered and grimaced in disgust as the words ran through her mind, now the looks made sense, the looks that everyone sent her and Haymitch, the scathing look that Cinna sent her father when he held her to calm her down before the opening ceremony

"Eww, Haymitch and me, me and him?" Onyx blanched making a face, she shuddered again, gagging at the thought of her ‘warming’ Haymitch’s bed. Did people really think that the district mentor would take a fourteen year old child in his bed when he had already lost his whole family to the capitol and spent his time drinking instead of doing anything else?

The boy looked at her confused at the response that he was given, he thought that he knew the relationship between the two when he noticed the look of disgust on Enobaria's face as she saw the mentor from twelve put his arm around the girl from his district.

He already hated the girl in front of him, the girl whose courage and costume made the people of Panem already look at her as a burning ember in the darkness of the hunger games/rebellion that everyone knew was coming. He had overheard Enobaria and Brutus speaking about it one night when music woke him, music so loud that no one in the capitol could hear them speak.

"So what is the relationship between you?" the boy asked curiously, he didn’t like not knowing anything, especially something he could use against his enemy within the games.

Onyx smirked at him at the question that escaped his mouth, she could see the struggle of the curiosity that was eating away at him which worked in her favour really, it would keep him interested and probably distracted too so that he would either have less sponsors or there was a chance he would wait before killing her, giving her time to either escape or kill him instead.

"Wouldn't you like to know" she stated to him with a small amount of smugness entering her voice as she walked over to the elevator; just as the doors closed she looked over at the boy and winked at him in a fleeting moment of daring, smirking a little at the annoyance and confusion on his face. She probably shouldn’t have done that but she didn’t care.

Onyx smiled to herself as she skipped into the penthouse room, Haymitch was sat on the couch watching something on the TV, looked like people making bets, so she skipped over to him and jumped onto the sofa couch next to him, before curling up into his side naturally.

"What's gotten you so chipper?" Haymitch grumbled slightly annoyed, he was getting a little crabby without his alcohol but Onyx didn’t mind because it meant that he was staying sober and not sneaking alcohol.

"Mentors and tributes think we're a thing" she informed him with a small giggle of amusement, even though she had originally gagged at the idea, she found it amusing now.

As she said that Cinna and Portia walked into the room with Effie.

"What! Eww, me and you? You and me?" he exclaimed disgusted as he shuddered causing Onyx to start giggling again, she had never acted like this before, she was usually collected, silent and mature, she needed to be because of the situation she was forced into.

The three Capitol people looked at them, confused at the display in front of them, Portia, however, looked a little relieved at hearing Haymitch's outburst. Haymitch glared playfully at Onyx as he heard her giggling and ignores the stylists and Effie, he scowls and pulls his daughter into a headlock trying to calm her down and get his own back against her too.

"So what is going on between you?" Effie inquired quietly, relief flooding through her as she heard the protest from the man who she had seen a different side too since the reaping.

Onyx smiled as Haymitch released her, but he pulled her into his side so that she couldn’t move away from him, mot that she would anyway. He motioned for the three of them to sit down and was startled slightly when Dustin sat between Effie and Portia, coming from behind them, how long had he been there?

"I've known Onyx for years, but not personally until four years ago" he informed them lightly, he wished he had a drink in his hand for this story but he promised nit to drink to keep his daughter alive. "I've seen her around the district and I knew her parents once upon a time, but only really learnt her name when she was nine and she was handed a medal for the death of her father in a mine. It turns out that a year later her mother died from pneumonia, and she was left on her own, usually when that occurs the child input into a community home but she kept herself out of them because they were more of a hell than being on the street was"

"I lived on the streets most nights or in the forest" Onyx continued after Haymitch motions for her to continue, she bites her lip lightly when she sees Haymitch’s sharp look at the mention of the forest, he didn’t like her risking her life against the wild animals of the forest "But there were some families in the Seam who were willing to let me stay with them a night or two, I had already learnt to look after myself so I traded bits and pieces for food, when I was ten. I was still unable to get tesserae so I was close to starvation many nights, that was until someone I knew had asked Haymitch if he could give me a job"

Haymitch shrugged with a small snort "Apparently I needed a cleaner, so Onyx would come in once a week and I'd pay her for cleaning, she was a pain in my ass most of the time because she moved my stash every week just to annoy me, but after a few weeks I slowly started to care for her and in the end have come to think of her as a daughter, but didn't tell her until she volunteered, we’ve both been hiding what we see each other as for four years"

Portia and Effie were both in tears by the end of the explanation, even Cinna looked like he was about to start crying. Dustin looked like some things finally made sense in his mind and walked off with a thoughtful look on his face. Soon Effie pulled Onyx into a hug surprising her and Haymitch who smirked a little at the discomfort coming from Onyx.

"I guess that went well" Haymitch muttered to himself as he snorted lightly while Effie fussed with Onyx who just allowed it considering she wouldn’t have been able to get away from it without upsetting the woman.

-/-\\-/-\\-

The next morning training started for Dustin and Onyx, Haymitch had warned the two of them to keep their skills a secret, so Onyx was going to try and stay away from the bow and arrow section of training as much as she despised the order to keep her talents a secret, although she could always try it and just down play her ability.

"At the end of the next few weeks, twenty three of you will be dead" The training woman told the tributes as she looked around the room at the scared or over confident faces of the tributes this year.

"Well that was blunt" Onyx whispered to Dustin who had to fight to keep his smile down, he wanted to pay attention to the woman in front of him so rolled his eyes at Onyx instead, Onyx hid her own smile as she half listened to the trainer and scanned the tributes around her, the trainer annoyed her with her emotionless tone so she didn’t care what she said at this moment.

The boy from two was looking at her again, curiosity was shining in his eyes, most likely still trying to figure out the link between her and Haymitch which caused Onyx to hide a smirk so that she didn’t antagonise him anymore. The little girl from two was paying as close attention as she could to the trainer in front of them but her twelve year old attention span seemed to be stretching towards the end as her eyes flitted to the obstacles and numerous stations around them, he eyes moving to the climbing area more often than any other station. Dustin was paying close attention too, so if she needed to know anything she could ask him later, she knew it wasn’t fair on him but she also knew that he would tell her what she needed to know.

The woman soon let them all go to training after giving ANOTHER warning to them not to fight other tributes until the games, the Careers all gathered around the offensive stations while others hesitantly went to different stations as to not antagonise the Careers.

Onyx made her way to the camouflage station and soon found that she had no ability at all when it came to hiding herself in the wild, she never used to need it when hunting so she never learnt how. She soon gave up and made her way to the station where she could practice her snares, she had learnt how to make them from Gale when they first started hunting together so she had knowledge of some but less knowledge of others. However, the trainer could see that she knew her snares and was soon spending time showing her how to improve them in some areas and sometimes asking her to show him how to make some of them. After an hour of being there she could see other tributes were wanting to learn snares so she smiled at the trainer and left him to train the others promising to return if he was alone when she was bored.

Sighing as she watched Dustin try out the assault course, she grimaced as he stumbled a few times but she could see that he was fast, so maybe there was some hope for him, she hoped there was some hope for him but also hoped nit so that he would have a quick death at the Cornucopia. Looking through the poisonous berry chart, Onyx soon felt eyes on her and had a feeling she knew who it was, so when she turned she wasn’t surprised to see the boy from two once again staring at her. She rolled her eyes at him and made a gesture at him which would have caused Haymitch to wash her mouth out if he were ever to hear of what she had done to a future enemy.

He growled and went to move forward but the boy from one stopped him by saying something with a glance over at her, the boy eyed her up and down before whispering in Two’s ear again causing the both of them to smirk in her direction.

Shrugging off the smirks the boys had sent to her, she smirked to herself and moved over to the spear section where she had seen the boy from one excel in, she had a feeling she wouldn’t be able to do anything hut it was worth trying. She picked up the spears feeling the weight of them, she knew that she definitely wouldn't be able to throw one because she didn't have the strength but she tried anyway, taking a step backs she hefted the spear forward and hit the target but just barely which got some laughs out of the careers. She scowls to herself, this was her first time she tried, she could most likely get better, and at least she was near the target.

"You need to aim better and put more weight behind it" The trainer told her slightly interested in the district twelve girl as he went to hand her another spear.

"I don't think spear throwing will be good for me, I don't have the strength to throw them" she apologised to the trainer before he could grab her a lighter spear, she walked off sending a glare at the Careers who looked surprised.

The trainer nodded as she left and muttered something which she couldn't heart as she walked off.

The knife throwing station is her next stop, she promised Haymitch that she would stay away from her specialities but she could always refine her throwing skills; the girl from two was still there after nearly three hours perfecting her already perfect throw, but Onyx stood next to her anyway.

"So twelve, you sleeping with your mentor for sponsors or fun?" The girl asked uninterested as Onyx threw a knife at the target only missing it by a few centimetres, although that’s what she aimed for so it was working.

Onyx raised her eyebrow at the girl and then looked behind her to the boy from two who kept glancing in their direction very unsubtle with his glances.

She snorted as she threw another knife hitting the outer ring of the target, "If your district partner wants to know the link between me and Mitch he needs to ask himself, I won’t answer to anyone but him if he wants to know"

The girl looked at her surprised as Onyx lets out her frustration at everything and hits the bullseye with her last knife, the girl turns to Onyx and holds her hand out to her slightly impressed at the logic. "This isn't an alliance, but for future reference I'm Clove, the dork over there is Cato”

Onyx looked at her surprised but gingerly accepted her hand shaking it lightly, she was glad she said that it wasn’t an alliance and now she had names for the two of them "Onyx, tell him if he doesn’t want to get wound up by me then stop staring at me”

With that Onyx walked away with a shake of her head, annoyed at the Careers who thought that they were all better than the others; Clove watched the younger girl walked off with a look of surprise on her face, she had hoped that the idiot would be too trusting and would tell her what was going on with the girl and her mentor, that way they could use it against her in the arena but she was actually smarter than other tributes. She looked over at the knife in the bullseye and then started walking back over to Cato with a frown of confusion on her face.

'Must have been pure luck' she thought to herself with a shake of her head 'a twelve rat can't hit a bullseye after three tries'

Cato looked at Clove expectantly, he looked like he was about to start bouncing on his heels just in case Clove was able to finally break the spell of curiosity that was over him so he could shake the thoughts of the twelve rat out of his mind finally.

"She didn't tell me, stupid rat isn't as trusting as we thought she'd be" Clove told the older boy who growled to himself and went off to the swords to vent some anger 'he doesn't like not knowing, does he?'

Looking over at the girl again she could see her trying to hit a target with a bow, but she kept missing, there was a look of concentration on her face each time, Clove could see that she wasn't very good at aiming because the bow was off target many times.

Shaking her head she walked over to the food cart, 'She'll probably be the first to go, they always are'


	5. Chapter Five

Finally the training part of the games had finished, Onyx had gotten in trouble after the first day after she had had to explain to Haymitch why she was at the bow and arrow section after Dustin had told him that she was there during the day, the little snitch. Although part of her hated that the training part had finished because it meant that she was only moments away from being taken from her mentor and father for the rest of his life.

_"I told you to stay away from that section Onyx!" Haymitch growled angrily, he didn't want his girl being targeted for her shooting skills, the fear that had run through him the moment Dustin had let spill that his daughter was at the archery range caused his heart to nearly stop in panic._

_Onyx scowled in frustration as she spun around on her heel to face her father, she had only just walked into the room after visiting the quiet that the rooftop offered, and now she was being ambushed by her father, Dustin must of told on her because she knew no one else in that room would care if she was at any station. "These bows aren't like my ones at home Mitch, they're different, I needed to actually train with them before showing the game makers what I can do otherwise I’m just going to fail"_

_"What if they realised you were holding back huh? What then?" Haymitch demanded as he let his panic over rule him, she had logic in words but the panic was too strong, he couldn't lose her in the first bloodbath, he knew that she at least had a chance but if she was a target then he had to say goodbye to his hope._

_Onyx glowered at him and then at Dustin who was watching the fight curiously and slightly guiltily, he didn’t mean to cause this, he just thought that Haymitch needed to know that his tribute daughter had gone against his wishes._

_"I can handle myself" Onyx growled through her teeth as she glared at her father annoyed, she had lived alone for years and kept herself alive when he was out and about during the games, when he left her alone just like the rest of her family had or when he was too far gone into his drink that he never registered her presence._

_Haymitch glared at her and her attitude and was about to shout again when Effie and Cinna walked into the room interrupting them, he didn’t need two of the Capitols gossips to find out that he was arguing with his daughter even if he did like their company, he looked at them then turned back to Onyx._

_"Yeah, well, handle be grounded for the next three weeks Onyx, you're not to leave this floor expect for training, that means not up to the roof." He made his statement final and glares at her, he wasn’t going to back down at this point, he refused, he had told her to stay away from it all, she should have listened to him not fought against him at every turn because she wanted to rebel._

_"That's not fair" Onyx stated shocked at Haymitch’s order, she knew that she was going to have trouble rebelling against his orders, Dustin proved that and the Avox's would most likely help him keep the order going._

_"Life isn't fair" Haymitch shot back at her, then walked out of the living room towards his bedroom, away from his daughter and the argument, he was the adult in this relationship, he was the father and he couldn’t lose her or his hope._

During the first week of her grounding Onyx rebelled as much as she could and avoided Haymitch as often as she could, she went to training, then went straight to her room only coming out for dinner in which she spent the hour ignoring Haymitch, eating little until she disappeared back into her room to study some books that she’d asked Effie and Cinna for to study the plants that may appear in the arena.

She had no idea if the books were allowed outside the training room but she honestly didn't care, they were useful reading and interesting reading too; one particular plant caught her attention, nightlock, something deadly but unassuming.

After the first week, Onyx found it very difficult ignoring him, she hated that she couldn’t talk to him, guilt ate away at her causing her a number of sleepless nights, Effie could see that it was hurting the both of them so tried multiple times to get Onyx to talk the man, she watched as Haymitch tried to get Onyx to talk him but the young girl would turn her back on him, she could see both of their hearts breaking as she turned her back.

In the middle of the second week Onyx collided with Haymitch after training of the Monday night, throwing her arms around his waist as she buried her head into his chest, he held her tight as she kept apologising to him as tears of guilt soaked her father’s shirt.

By the end of the third week, Onyx spent the majority of her free time with Haymitch, who stuck with her more as the days passed getting closer and closer to the time that she was due in the arena, that little aspect seemed to work for them though, every now and again he would catch a sponsor out of the corner of his eye as he accompanied her down to the training room. He knew what everyone assumed but hopefully their interviews were going to set everything straight and help them all greatly.

Onyx sat silently outside the training room waiting for Dustin to finish his attempt at getting a good score, waiting for her time to go in to see the game makers and try to impress them so that in turn she can impress the sponsors to try and keep her alive in the arena.

"Onyx Rose, District Twelve" An automated voice called as the door to the room opened, Dustin gave her a reassuring smile as he walked out of the room but she could tell that he was slightly pale from having to try and perform at his best for the game makers.

Onyx took a deep breath and walked into the room that they had spent three weeks in trying to get better at their areas, it was where the game makers were all already half drunk and socialising with each other rather than paying attention to the new tribute in the room, maybe this was why Dustin was pale. She cleared her throat to try and gain their attention and once one of them saw her he signalled as best he could to his friends so they soon all quieted down as much as drunkards could; she nodded her head at the guy in thanks for the support then went straight for the bow. Many of them who had watched her in training rolled their eyes and muttered something to their friends which caused a small grumble of laughter to run through the group causing her to scowl at the floor, she was going to try and keep her temper. They turned away, which slowly started to ignite the anger within Onyx, she took a deep breath to calm herself down and then took a hold of the bow and arrow.

She tested the bow without an arrow and then smiled as she notched her arrow, she raised both the arrow and the box and released a breath as she released an arrow hitting the target dead on. Many whispers broke out behind her but it was only from a small group in the corner that had kept their eyes on the girl, hoping that for once they saw a bit of spark in district twelve whereas everyone else was too busy drinking and that was when she saw red.

A huge crash echoed around the training hall which caused silence to follow as the gamemakers looked away from their drinks and down at the stand of arrows and spears that she had kicked to the ground in fury, she glared up at them, every ounce of anger at the games and those in the capitol was put into her flare which caused a few of the gamemakers to flinch and look away from the young girl, Onyx grabbed a knife from beside her, throwing it at the dummy and splitting the arrow in half causing a small gasp of shock to come out of the mouths of some of the men, the small group who had watched from the beginning were definitely impressed, they had gotten the spark that they were hoping for.

"I get that you have seen twenty three other tributes" she snarled, fury and a small amount of hurt dripping from her words, her voice reaching the game makers who stared at her in shock "But you are sending twenty four children to their death and are too BUSY, drinking yourselves stupid instead of paying fucking attention to the tributes who would benefit from a good score, aiding them with sponsors"

Looking up she could see many of them frozen with shock while others were trying to avoid her gaze, looking down at the floor in guilt. Even though she had only spoken two sentences, she knew at least that she ad gotten her point across to a small number of them and that was all she could really ask for.

"Well thank you, my lords, thank you for paying attention to the fourteen year old who you are sending to her death" She finished her rant, bowing at them as she called them 'lords', she placed the bow on the floor carefully and left the room without anyway dismissal from them. Onyx was hoping that calling them lords would cause them to think, they had acted better than what they were and belittled people who needed their help, who they most likely chose, because she was sure that was what they did, the gamemakers and the Capitol would look at the list of potential tributes and them choose the ones they would think would make the biggest impact or best entertainment and then they would only put their name in the bowl, but she put a spanner in the works this time.

As she got into the elevator she leaned her head up against the cool metal wall and let out a groan before she moved back and slid down to the floor pulling her legs to her chest as she thought over everything that she had done and the trouble that it could cause for her and Haymitch, the elevator ride went far too quickly up to her floor but she didn't really want to leave the small space, she was safe in the small box. Sighing she got up and left the elevator slowly, she hesitantly enters the penthouse suite that they were situated in, where Cinna and Haymitch were waiting for her, waiting to hear if things went well or not.

"Where's Dustin, Portia and Effie?" she questioned quietly as she sat in the corner of the sofa away from the two men she had come to care for, the two who she knew she couldn’t deal with if they were angry with her.

Haymitch looked at her worried as she moved away from Cinna and him, it was rare for her to move away from any of them in the past few days and yet she was openly distancing herself away from them, he sends a look over to Cinna who was also looking a little worried, "Dustin is in his room and Portia and Effie are trying to figure out what Dustin can wear for his interview, what happened darling?"

Onyx looked out the window, away from her father and designer, if she faced them at the admission of the screw up that she caused then she would probably break down, she couldn't handle the anger or disappointment that will appear in their eyes for her actions. "I lost my temper with them"

Haymitch groaned as he sat next to her with his arm around her shoulder, pulling her close to reassure her that he wasn't angry or disappointed with her, in fact, he actually expected her to lose her temper at some point; he knew Onyx had a temper when something pushes her too far, she was good at holding back at times but when she let loose then all hell breaks loose. "What happened?"

"They were too busy drinking to pay attention, so I kicked a stand of spear and arrows over and split my arrow with a knife, while telling them that their sending kids who need sponsors to their death because they're too busy drinking themselves stupid. I said 'Thank you my lords, thank you for paying attention to the fourteen year old who you are sending to her death' and then I bowed and walked out" She explained simply but not leaving out any important details, she knew she wouldn’t get away with leaving anything out "I'm sorry Mitch, I should have tried to control my temper more"

Haymitch snorted at his daughter, before he soon let out a deep amused chuckle and pulled her closer to make sure she didn't try and move away from him again; he then looked over at Cinna who was rather shocked at what had happened. "Darling, you made them remember you, that's what you needed to do"

"Don't worry Onyx, you should be okay, you made an impression on them" Cinna told the young girl with a smile as soon as he got over his shock and placed a hand on her shoulder reassuringly

Onyx looked between them closely to see if they were just playing it off but when she saw that they weren't angry with her, she smiled at the two men in her life and curled up into her father's side as she let everything from the day catch up with her causing her to slowly drifted off to sleep in the protection of her father.

Just before the scores from the game makers were shown, Onyx was shaken awake by Effie who had her sit up to watch the scores, nine of them had told Effie what they she had done in the room, the woman would have freaked out. She smiled at the seven that little Rue got and congratulated Dustin at the seven that he received (for his hand to hand combat, since he often fought in school), they all watched as the commentator said Onyx's name, surprise evident in his voice and face as he looked at the number that was written down in front of him.

"A ten"

The whole of the gathering shouted out happily as Haymitch pulled his daughter into a hug, she had got a ten meaning there was a higher chance of her getting sponsors, they just needed to sort her interview technique out and she'd be okay. Haymitch had a small bit of doubt entering his mind as he lay in bed that night, a ten meant that his daughter was going to be a target, they both aided her in sponsors but also gave her a death wish in regards to the careers, he just hoped things would go alright for once.

 


	6. Chapter Six

Onyx was sat nervously on a chair on a large stage in front of a live audience, the other tributes all in a line alongside her, she and Dustin were at the end of the line that were waiting for their turn to be interviewed with Ceaser Flickerman, the interviewer for many of the Hunger Games that had passed; every year he had changed the colour that he wore and this year it was a bright blue that wasn't too light but it was still as garish as every other style he wore.

He had the job of questioning all of the tributes about their scores which many played coy about (such as Glimmer from one and Clove) while others told him the truth (Cato and Marvel). Little Rue made her impression as she skipped up to the chair, with wings sown onto her dress making her look like a bird which emulated the reason of why she had gotten the score she had from the game makers.

She herself was dressed in a floor length dress that was just a mixture of colours that she usually wouldn't think would go well together but Cinna went above and beyond. The top of her dress was a red that when reaching her waist. slowly broke into a mismatched mixture of red and white which created the image of rose petals falling down the fabric until they slowly turn into orange embers in coal at the bottom. Cinna had once again only put eyeliner and blush on her but she had a wrist and head band on that held small bursts of fire that wouldn't hurt her.

All in all, she loved the style she was put into.

"And now District Twelve's, Miss Onyx Rose" Ceaser called as the crowd cheered louder than they had for everyone else which overwhelmed the young girl. getting up gingerly from her chair, trying not to fall, she took the seat opposite Ceaser who smiled a genuine smile and looked at her dress in awe.

"That is a beautiful dress Miss Rose" he told her lightly and honestly, she knew that Ceaser had a sense of fashion but he hadn't commented much on the clothes the others wore which made her to blush lightly.

"Thank you Mr Flickerman, my stylist Cinna decided that he wanted to use my name and district as inspiration tonight" she told him softly, she was afraid that she would need to speak louder but she could tell that the crowd could still hear her due to a microphone that was pinned to the chest of her dress.

"Please my dear, call me Ceaser, that is if I can call you Onyx?" He inquires with a sweet (and totally fake) smile. Onyx nodded her acceptance with a small smile of her own, Haymitch had wanted Onyx to be sweet and yet shy which was something she could easily pull off because she was terrified so really didn't want to speak up. "Now Onyx there are two main questions that I wish to ask you tonight"

Onyx watched him carefully before nodding in acceptance, he usually just went straight into the questions so hearing that he only had two was a relief for her, she bites her lip slightly in nervousness as she tried to keep her cool.

Ceaser eyed the young girl with a small smile at the small action of comfort which he knew many children were scolded for in the capital due to the effects it could have on their lips as they got older, his smile grows wider as she quickly release her lip and ducks her head slightly in embarrassment

"Sorry, its a bad habit, Haymitch keeps telling me to stop biting my lip" She informed him sheepishly as if to explain her embarrassment, the crowd made a small awing motion at the action, one that signalled to Ceaser that she must already have them under her spell with only a few actions; something no one has been able to do since Finnick Odair had competed in the games. "He says it'll cause my lip to bleed more often"

Ceaser couldn't help but grin when she mentions her mentors name, as if she had walked into the question without knowing it, but Haymitch and she knew that they would bring up their relationship since it was the talk of the mentors and tributes after the Opening Ceremony. "That my dear is my first question to you, what is your relationship to the mentor of your district? There have been many rumours and speculations since the opening ceremony"

Onyx giggled lightly, just like she had the moment she first told Haymitch about what Cato had told her; which caused many of the crowd to fall in love with her even more than they already were. "We're not together as many people have assumed. Honestly?, he's my hero, he's saved my life many times, and he's the dad I never thought I would have since the death of my parents a few years ago"

The crowd all looked shocked at the young girl, out of the number of tributes they have had, there were very rarely any orphans; the president always wanted to make a statement by taking children from loving families to remind them of the hold the Capitol has.

"You're an orphan?" Ceaser questioned shocked, he had the basic knowledge of how the Capitol worked and how they often rigged games to suit their purposes, that was the reason the two twelve year old girls were originally reaped but then the courageous young girl in front of him put a spin on those plans that no one could have seen.

"Yes" Onyx nodded sadly, remembering her parents still hurt even with having Haymitch in her life so having them brought up on live television wasn't pleasant. "My father passed when I was nine and my mother when I was ten, and since then I've lived alone on the streets, Haymitch allowed me to clean his home for him after he was approached by a mutual acquaintance, and has protected me since I met him, he's the only family I have now"

Onyx had a small amount of family in the Hawthornes and the Everdeens but she knew that if she made any mention of them then there was a target placed on them if she went against the Capitol or spoke out while in the arena.

Ceaser actually looked heartbroken for the young girl and made to ask her more about her life and her link to the lone mentor of District Twelve but then noticed he only had a minute left which meant he needed to ask his last question fast.

"Who was the young girl you volunteered for?" he questioned her as they both looked at the timer "we all thought you were so brave for doing that for her and her family"

"Primrose, she is a young girl in the part of town that I have spent most my time in, she is such a ray of sunshine to everyone who meets her because she doesn't seem to have a single bad bone in her body. The day my father died was the day that hers died also along with many others, her older sister and her sisters best friend are two of the most stubborn people I have ever met but they have looked out for me in any way they could. I just hope Gale takes my advice and finally asks Katniss out after all this"

The crowds all laughed at the young girl calling out her friends and Onyx just smirked at the camera in hopes that Katniss and Gale will finally get their happy ending out of all this, Gale was now at an age where he wouldn't be reaped again, and Katniss was getting there.

"My apologies Ceaser" she told the man who smiled at her with a shake of his head showing that it was okay, it was definitely something new in one of his interviews and he liked when the tributes surprised him; the bell soon sounded showing that it was the end of her interview which caused a small amount of disappointed noises come from the audience.

"Thank you" he told her genuinely and held her hand up for the crowd as he aided her up from the chair and so that her dress was now on full show to emphasise his next words, "Miss Onyx Rose, The burning rose"

Onyx blushed deeply and ducked her head at the nickname that the Capitol had began to link to her ever since the Opening Ceremony, the play on her name and the embers that burned on her dress just made her shake her head but Haymitch liked it.

She quickly looked back at the other tributes, but Cato was the one who caught her attention as he glared at the ground, he looked up at her as if sensing her eyes on him and glared at her causing her to dip her head to him in mocking since he finally found out about the link between her and Haymitch.

Soon Dustin went up on the stage and went through his interview quickly, Onyx frowned sadly as she realised that he didn't hold the audiences attention as much as she or some of the other tributes did. Haymitch had given him little things to say and do when he was on stage with Ceaser to make him lovable, and thanks to Haymitch's thinking, Dustin did seem lovable, bringing laughs and smiles to the crowds face, but they seemed forced; as if this act was something they were bored by every year.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the tributes of the 74th annual Hunger Games" Ceaser cheered at the end of Dustin's interview as he gestured to the twenty four tributes that were lined up behind him, which caused the crowd to go mad with screaming and cheering and signalled the true beginning of the Hunger Games.

Onyx left the stage as fast as she could before crashing into Haymitch who was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs, knowing that she would need the support after the nerve wracking performance. He took her hand in his and gently pulled her towards the elevator followed by Dustin who shook his head at the protectiveness that Haymitch had over his district partner, Dustin found it entertaining to see the drunk holding onto the girl as much as he could, but also heartbreaking because they all knew there was a chance this was the last time they could see each other.

As soon as the door opened when they finally reached the top floor, Cinna pulled Onyx into a hug as she laughed into his shoulder; she knew that this was the last night that she had with all of them and so she wanted to make it her best night so that they had good memories to remember her by. Haymitch had finally given in and given her permission to go up onto the roof one last time as the celebration was coming to the end, so she stood at the railings watching the parties spilling out onto the streets below them as the people celebrated the fights to the death that they would soon be witnessing.

She startles after a few moments as the elevator bell seems to echo on the open roof top and looked behind her with her guard up instantly; she relaxes the moment she catches sight of Dustin walking over to her with a small shy smile on his face.

"Hey" she whispered to him softly as he made his way over to where she was stood and took a place next to her as he too gazed down in disgust as the people of the Capitol celebrated the upcoming battles that they were being forced into.

"Hi" he whispered back and stood in silence as he scowled down at the streets full of parties for a few minutes, he didn't understand the need for these Games but he also never spoke aloud his thoughts. "I'm not going to make it home"

Onyx looked at her district partner surprised at the words that he spoke, but her expression soon became one of sadness and understanding, she gently took his hand into hers and give it a small squeeze; showing him that she felt that way too.

"I don't think either of us are, not with these Careers" She admits to him quietly as she moves her gaze back to the bright city surrounding them "Haymitch.... he's holding onto the hope that I'll survive, but the boy from Two seems to want me dead for some reason, I won't survive long, and I can't stomach the idea of killing a human being"

Dustin was the one to squeeze her hand in understanding this time. "You know, I've seen you around the Seam so many times, my mom always wanted to house you but my dad wouldn't let her. I don't know why, he just always said no but would always look sad after saying it"

Onyx sighed lightly, she knew many people who did the same thing as Dustin's parents, it hurt but she understood why they wouldn't house her. "Your pa knew that there would have been consequences for helping me keep out of the community homes, he was smart not to get you all into trouble. But I always did wonder why he would drop a small coin on the floor whenever he came near me"

Dustin eyes the girl in front of curiously before making a quick decision that he may regret, he turned Onyx around to face him and then placed his lips on hers gently, she stood shocked at the action, not expecting him to do that; but when he pulled away he looked at her with a soft, sad smile and she understood.

"I'm sorry Onyx, but I didn't want to die before I had my first kiss" he told her carefully, waiting for the backlash; but she just nodded numbly and he sighed before leaving her alone with her thoughts.

Onyx touched her lips as the linger sensation of his lips on hers remained as a reminder of what had happened, but rather than reacting even further, she just turned with her back to the elevator as she let a tear fall down her cheek. Dustin had made a point as he kissed her, he wanted to at least have a first kiss before he died in these games and she had never thought of that but now he had stolen her first kiss; but rather than being angry about it, she was happy, she trusted Dustin and had come to get to know him more than anyone else in her life, she was glad her first kiss was with him.

With a small sigh she took one more look at the beauty of the Capitol and left the roof bracing herself for what she was about to face the next day.

It didn't take long for her to get back to her silent floor, but after an hour of trying to fall asleep she gave up with a sigh and carefully climbed out of her bed moving into the living room to maybe find something that would help her sleep.

What she wasn't expecting, however, was to see Haymitch wide awake with a cup of something in his hands as he looked out of the windows of their apartment at the streets that were still alive with activity.

"Not drinking already are you?" Onyx asked softly as she made her way further into the empty lounge, she moved towards the table that was constantly filled with fresh foods and drinks and grabbed a mug of hot chocolate.

Haymitch jumped slightly at the sudden noise and was surprised that he hadn't reacted violently like he once used to before she had entered his life, he turns to look at her with a sad smile as he moves away from the window and onto the couch where she could join him.

"It's just a small one, it helps me sleep, what are you doing up? You should be fast asleep by now young lady" he scolded halfheartedly, he could understand why she couldn't sleep, he had been in the same situation as her years ago.

Onyx smiled at the scolding lightly and silently moved to sit next to him before placing the mug on the table in front of them and laying her head down in his lap; Haymitch automatically started to run his fingers through her hair which he had learnt calmed her over the weeks and which in turn slowly started to make her fall asleep.

After half hour of watching his daughter sleep, Haymitch tried to lift the girl in his arms to take her to bed but she kept stirring, so instead he moved so that Onyx was asleep on his chest while he was lying on his back on the couch. Her weight on him allowed him to slowly fall asleep as he felt her chest rising and falling against his own; Onyx stirred long enough to look at him carefully before putting her head back on his chest allowing his heart beat to send her into a deep sleep.


	7. Chapter Seven

The next morning nearly sent Effie in a panic when she couldn't wake Onyx up from her room and when she entered the young girls room there was no sign that the girl had even slept in the bed that had been provided for her; the chaperone nearly ran to the roof to check if the girl was there until she came upon a sight she wished she never had to ruin.

Seeing Haymitch fast asleep with his daughter curled up on his chest made her heart break, knowing that she needed to wake the both of them so that Onyx would be sent away; a prospect that had Effie wishing he was never a part of these games for the first time since she took the position as the chaperone of District Twelve.

When Effie had met Haymitch, she despised the former winner of the games, he was nothing but a drunkard and a pig; but the moment the young girl in front of her entered the train she could see a difference in the man and knew that the moment they watched her demise on the screen would be the moment District Twelve would lose their only mentor.

Effie sighed lightly as she moved forward and tapped the young girl on the shoulder, she knew that if she woke Haymitch first then he would most likely jostle Onyx enough that she would fall to the floor and possibly hurt herself. “Onyx sweetie”

The young girls eyes fluttered open carefully as she felt a small tapping on her shoulder, her gaze landed on Effie confused as to where she was but then her ‘bed’ let out a snore which brought her back to her surroundings with a little chuckle escaping her lips; she carefully detangled herself from her father and motioned to Effie that she was going to have a shower so that she didn't have to deal with her father waking up.

“Haymitch!”

Effie knew that she was going to need to back away instantly so she gently shook the man awake and jumped back as he startled and jumped up, grabbing widely at air, his head shot back and forth looking for something.

“She’s gone for a shower Haymitch” Effie explained lightly as she realised what the man was looking for and was ready to fight for “You need to go have one too”

Haymitch took a while before he understood her and just nodded his head tiredly before he left the lounge to go and wash away the sleep that still clung to him; which left Effie alone with her own emotions. The chaperone dropped down onto the sofa and released a small sob for the two that she had gotten to know over the past month, she had seen a good change in Haymitch since he had been able to acknowledge Onyx as his daughter and now she was off to fight to the death.

All she could do is hope that the young girl who had weaved her way into her heart will survive the task ahead of her.

Time went faster than any of the adults that were part of the District Twelve team would have liked; Effie pulled both of the tributes into hugs before letting them go, she didn’t want to say goodbye to the two of them but knew she had to, without a word she left the room sending an apologetic look at Haymitch who nodded his head in understanding, he could see the tears welling up in the chaperones eyes which was new but he also knew that Onyx and Dustin had gotten past her walls.

He escorted the both of them up to the area where he was to leave the two of them go forward into a hovercraft that was waiting to take them to the arena where Portia and Cinna were waiting for them. Dustin left him with a nod of his head and a hand shake not wanting to take any amount of time away from the duo which left the father and daughter alone.

Haymitch immediately pulled Onyx close to him and hugged her tightly as he kissed her head, he didn’t want to let her go, but seeing the peace keepers coming towards them, he knew his time with his daughter was about to be cut short.

“Now listen to me Onyx Rose,” he told her sternly as he held her at arm’s length, tears beginning to well up in his eyes as he catalogued every feature of hers so that he could never and would never forget her if the worst were to happen “You run, as soon as that bell tolls, you run to cover, do not go to the pile of weapons, they’ll put a bow there for you but don’t go for it. Make one if you have to okay, just come back to me”

Onyx could hear the desperation in his voice and just nods as her eyes fill with tears, she hugs him quickly and tightly as she tries her hardest to remember how his arms around her felt and what he smelt like.

“I love you daddy” she whispers to him softly as she was pulled away from her father and onto the hovercraft by a peace keeper who hadn't wanted to break the two apart; although one peacekeeper had enough sense to hold Haymitch back before he chased after her.

Onyx was pulled up the ramp of the hovercraft and sat down in one of the chairs before they strapped her into it, as if they expected the tributes to run away; but Onyx wasn't going to run, she had had weeks to come to terms that she wasn't going to make it back to Haymitch and District Twelve. She looked down at her lap as soon as the peace keeper left her, trying to keep her tears at bay as Capitol workers wandered around the hovercraft, placing the trackers into the tributes arms.

A shadow stopped next to her not long after she had been strapped in, Onyx looked up and lifted her arm up at the same time, without fuss, allowing the tracker to be placed inside her arm; the sharp jab into her arm caused her to flinch slightly but she showed no other reaction.

All twenty four tributes stayed silent through the journey to the arena, Onyx was able to wipe away the dried tears as she looked around her and could see Rue shaking slightly in her seat as Thresh tried to calm her somewhat, Cato and the other careers all seemed to be tense, maybe they were eager for the games to begin but they also seemed nervous as well.

All Onyx could do was close her eyes and try and block out everything, she needed to gather her own thoughts as they more or less flew to their deaths that would be televised live in front of the entire nation.

Seeing Cinna for the last time almost made her start crying again, especially when she noticed that he too had tears in his eyes, but they made sure that the last moments they had weren't sad ones; instead she made him promise to look after her father if anything were to happen, she made him promise to go and watch the games with him so that neither of them did anything stupid.

And he did promise, it was amazing what a month could do with the relationships in a persons life, before the games Onyx didn't truly have anyone, but now she had a father in Haymitch who reciprocated her feelings, she had a mother figure in Effie and she had an aunt and uncle in Portia and Cinna as well as a possible best friend in Dustin.

Onyx stood silent on the plate that was readying to take the young girl up in a tube towards the arena of this year, Cinna placed his hand on the tube silently as she copied the motion and blew a kiss to him as she was slowly raised to what could possibly be her grave.

Placing her hand around the small necklace that she had been given a few minutes ago, Onyx took a deep breath as a clearing in a forest become clear to her, she couldn't help the small breath of relief that escaped her; she could survive well enough in a forest, she had for years already.

Looking around, Onyx could see the other tributes on their own plates dotted in what looked like a circle so they were all an equal distance from a massive pile of weapons in the centre; each of the tributes were either ready to run into the bloodshed for weapons or ready to run into the forest, she could see Dustin eyeing a small sword and wanted to shake her head at him but he couldn't see her. She took notice of the bow that shined enticingly in the closest pile of weapons but shook her head at the thought of running into the bloodbath for a weapon that she may be able to build herself if she had a knife.

All the Careers were doing the same as Dustin and many of the other tributes, they were eyeing the weapons like they were knives and forks and their eyes flitted to the other tributes like they were pieces of meat; she could see that Rue was being smart and staring straight at the forest, her eyes flitting from the forest to a small bag on the outer edge of the cornucopia that would be easy enough to grab, just like some of the other small bags that Onyx could easily grab and escape with.

The countdown finally got to ten which made the nerves in her stomach to grow even more uncomfortable but she focused on her task as she shifted her weight slightly and then waited for the bell that signalled the beginning of the end. As soon as the countdown ended she raced off of the plate and towards two of the bags on the outer rim, grabbing them by the handles without even faltering considering the practice she's had over the years and then ran straight into the forest without looking back to the blood bath that was behind her.

Onyx finally reached a distance that she felt safe at, after what felt like hours of running but was most likely only half an hour but quite a few miles; she searches her surrounding area, looking for little spots that she could possibly use to hide away from the Careers. she knew that there was no chance that they would be courteous enough leave the rest of the tributes that had survived, feel safe that night, they had gotten the taste of blood and they wouldn't want to give up that feeling.

Using her past experiences as her guides, she starts to scan the surrounding area around her for a tree that was easy enough for her to climb but would possible be difficult for the Careers to climb, and that was covered enough by leaves so that she could stay hidden but could see around her for protection.

Finding a tree that had her specifications was surprisingly easy, but she had a feeling that the gamemakers needed to give the little people a decent enough chance to survive the nights, so it shouldn't have been too surprising.

As soon as she was safe in the branches and steady enough to sit down without the threat of falling and breaking her neck, she eyed the two bags that she was able to grab and began the process of opening them to see what she had been lucky enough to grab.

BOOM!

The cannon toll almost made her lose her balance and she had to catch one of the bags with her foot before she lost her winnings, it looked like seeing what she had grabbed would have to wait while the cannons began to toll, which also signalled the end of the bloodbath, she sighed to herself and lent back with her eyes closed as she started counting the cannons; she had escaped the bloodbath but now her father had more hope of her surviving these games which made guilt eat away at the young girl.

Eleven tributes were down, killed in the annual bloodbath that signified the beginning of every game, eleven families already mourning the passing of their children but would be forced to watch as other children would soon meet their child's fate; part of them hoping that their child's killer/s would meet the same fate. Onyx looked up at the dome wearily and wondered if the game makers felt any remorse after she had pointed out that they were killing children for entertainment.

'Probably not' Onyx grimaced as she sighed and began the task of compartmentalising what she had in the backpacks and hopefully condensing them enough so that she could move easier and quieter through the forest as the games moved on.

Luck seemed to be on her side for the moment, she had gained a sleeping bag that insulated her body heat during the night so that she was less likely to freeze to death, an empty bottle with iodine tablets to purify the water so that it would be safe for her to drink; there were some little bits of food like crackers and dried fruit and nuts, and finally some rope which she could put to good use with her snares. But the first thing she needed to do was find water because the food would definitely dry out her mouth and make her dehydrated if she wasn't careful.

The sound of the Capitols music drew Onyx's attention to above her as she put all the useless stuff into the unwanted backpack, she could see the Capitols seal and watched as the names of those that had been slaughtered appeared in the sky above of her.

As usual the tributes from one and two survived, they most likely were the ones who did the most killing since every year it was those Districts that made up the Careers as well as District Four; the boy from three survived, but surprisingly the boy from four didn't live through the blood bath which was definitely curious expect for the fact that he was quite young as it was so maybe the Careers didn't see him as much of a threat or an aid for their fight. The young girl who strongly reminded Onyx of a fox due to the cunning that she showed in training, survived the bloodbath, but the boy from her district didn't. Neither tributes from six, seven and nine survived while the girl from eight did, the boy from ten survived.

And then Dustin's face appeared in the sky causing Onyx to let out a small whimper as her heart broke slightly, she knew it would only be a matter of time for her to see his face looking down at her, but she didn't expect it to be this soon or this heartbreaking.

Onyx shakily placed her three middle fingers on her left hand to her mouth and then saluted Dustin's picture, it was a gesture of her district that meant saying goodbye to a loved one and she had a feeling that she would not be the only one making this gesture at this point.

Tears flowed down her face as she wrapped herself up in her sleeping bag, trying to keep the sobs at bay, she made sure that she was in a junction of the tree so that she was stable where she was but right now she didn't care. She knew she needed to find water the next morning so she tried to get a hold of her emotions and closed her eyes, hoping that she would sleep enough to run on the next day so that she would not meet the same fate as her friend.

Halfway through a fitful night a cannon woke Onyx up signifying that another tribute did not make the night, considering the cold they probably tried to light a fire to keep themselves warm which would have easily brought the careers down upon them; a snap of a branch close to her made Onyx freeze as she heard laughter coming closer to where she was hidden. Staying as still as she could, Onyx hoped with her whole heart that she wouldn't rustle any of the branches or leaves around her and alert the careers to her location.

"Stupid fool" Marvel snorted as they kept walking through the forest, looking for any sign of more tributes, he could see Glimmer practically drooling over Cato when he had slit the throat of the girl from eight and was following the District Two boy like a love struck puppy.

"Oh well" Cato shrugged, he could see the glances the blonde girl was sending his way and was fighting back the sneer he wanted to send her way; he hated when tributes thought that these games were good for hook ups. "One more tribute out of our way"

Clove smirked at her friend at the unconcerned shrug and wanted desperately to knock some sense into the blonde girl that was trailing after her district partner but instead began to scan the area looking for any other signs of life around them.

"Who's left?" Coral, the young girl from District Four asked as she trailed after the others with the weapons on her back, she knew she wasn't as good as these four but also knew they were her best bet until the end.

Glimmer thought to herself as she skipped around the group, going away from the love struck fool act and instead becoming hyper on the killing that they had taken part in.

"Well there's the boy from three but he's useful right now," Glimmer started as she began to list off the competition on her fingers "Then the girl from five, she seems rather shifty so she might be difficult to grab, I think the boy from ten, then there's the two from eleven which is really surprising and finally there's the 'burning rose', was hoping to get the pleasure of killing her district partner but the girl from ten actually got a good hit in"

Glimmer snorted in disgust at the name that Panem had began to use in reference to the rat from twelve, she spat on the floor after speaking the name; Glimmer didn't understand why the girl was seen as something special, she was just another young girl who had something unique about her to catch the attentions of the Capitol, she wasn't going to make any difference to these games.

"There's nothing special about her, I bet that she actually was warming the bed off that drunken mentor" Glimmer gagged as she shivered at the very idea of it "I mean, come on, there's no way that story was true, even if a District Two kid lost their parents, they would be fostered into another home so it would have happened with her too"

"What I would like to know is how she got a ten" Clove stated, ignoring Glimmer, as she twirled one of her knives in her hand, she would never admit it to her fellow careers but she held a small amount of respect for the girl; and had a feeling that she already knew how she had gotten the ten, the precision of her knife throws weren't just luck.

"Me too" Cato muttered to himself as he looked up above them into the tops of the trees, not noticing the small bundle hidden amongst the leaves not too far from them; he turned to the rest of the group and noticed that they were lagging slightly "Let's get back to camp, I'm hungry now"

The group of five all shrugged and turned back so that they could circle around the way they came and see if they could find any more kills before they ate and before the night was over.

Onyx let out a small breath of relief as they left the area that she was in, they had turned around just as they came under her and would have been spotted if Cato had paid more attention to his surroundings; if they had stayed the night, they would have easily spotted her the next morning and she would have been a goner.

 

 


	8. Chapter Eight

Onyx woke up to sun streaming into her eyes blinding her, something she had gotten use to in the past few days of surviving in the Games that she was forced to participate, it had been a lonely few days where she was lucky enough not to run into the Careers or any other tribute; going through her morning ritual, Onyx listened to her surroundings for any sign of someone close to her before moving and stretching the cricks in her neck. After the first day and the bloodbath that occurred, no one had been killed so the young girl was beginning to get on edge since she knew that sooner or later there was going to be something that sent her, as well as the other tributes, towards the Careers so that there would be more entertainment for the people who felt no pain during this time of year.

Jumping down from the tree with ease, the young girl scanned the area for any sign of disturbance in the night before she nodded to herself and took off to the small pond, filling her bottle again. She had been lucky the second day of the Games, after she had found a small pond that she could use a source for water; unaware for a moment, she shot up as something passed the corner of her eye.

Turning to what had invaded her safe haven, Onyx froze in shock as she notices that the tree that once served as her bed, was now ablaze; she could feel the heat that it emitted from where she stood.

Making a quick decision, Onyx threw her backpack over her shoulder before taking off away from the fire that was growing fiercer as every second passed, she knew that the game makers would do something like this but he didn't expect them to use fire.

Every now and again she would make a turn so that she could circle back to a safe distance away from the Careers and the centre of the arena, but a fireball would zip past her and had nearly caught her in it's path; which meant that they wanted a fight, they wanted her to fight.

"Why do they have to push me towards the fucking careers" she snarled under breath as she ducked under another fireball aimed her way, she had caught onto the little hiss that was emitted every time a fireball was sent her way so was more cautious every time she heard that noise.

Running in the way that the game makers were pushing her was the only thing that she was able to do, there was no way that she could double back; her attention was off her surroundings for just a second too long when she felt a burning heat travelling up her side as she screamed out in shock.

Hitting the floor with a whimper at the pain that coursed through her body, Onyx's attention went down to where the pain had originated; she could almost cry as she caught sight of the burn that now took up part of her side.

"Fuck" she whimpered out lightly as she pressed the edges of the inflamed area to see just how far it spanned, if she wasn't careful then she was going to die of an infection before the end of these Games.

Knowing that she couldn't stay where she was for too long, she jumped up wincing at the pull of her new wound and continued running away from the fire balls that were still being sent her way; hoping that she wouldn't be taken by surprise again.

While she was paying more attention to the sounds of the fire balls, Onyx lost focus of her surrounding area and soon found herself losing her footing and sliding down a small incline; only to stop at the edge of the lake that was close to the Cornucopia. Onyx stayed still for a moment, waiting for more fire but was rewarded with silence and after a moment of hesitation, slowly edged herself into the water looking for relief from the burning pain in her side;, her eyes shifting around everywhere looking out for any threats that the game makers would have sent her towards.

A cannon suddenly echoed around the arena, signalling that someone had fallen prey to the latest schemes of the gamemakers or fallen prey to the careers that they were sent too; Onyx tried to stay as still as possible as she heard a growing laughter coming up from the ridge behind her.

It was the Careers.

"Idiot didn't even think to run from the fire" Marvel chuckled bitterly, as they moved through the smoke filled forest towards their small little home which held water that would hopefully get rid of the smoke from his eyes.

Freezing for a moment, Onyx ducked down slowly in hopes that she wouldn't be seen before she carefully started to move towards the land that was furthest away from where the new threat were.

"That's because you forced him in" Clove told him drily as she examined her surroundings for any more fire balls being shot at them, she didn't like fire, it was unpredictable and uncontrollable; but she had to concede to herself that the fire would have been a quicker death than being killed by them.

Cato rolled his eyes at the small group that he was stuck with as they made their way towards their little camp, he hated the latest game maker scheme, a fire ball had skimmed his thigh after they had found the boy from Ten and now every time he took a step, he had to contain a wince so that the others wouldn't turn on him.

"Well look who it is" Glimmer laughed as she scanned the area and caught sight of the young girl trying to hide in the water "The Burning Rose all wet, did you like the fire, little flower?"

Onyx knew that it was game over for her the moment the Careers had come into the area that she was in and she had a feeling that that was why the game makers had pushed her towards them, she wasn't in any shape to run and even if she did get away; she would still be a goner.

"I'm sorry daddy" she whispers to herself as she flinches at the laughs from the blonde girl.

Taking the chance to get out of the water and maybe die with some dignity, Onyx pushed herself to get as far away as possible; but the moment that she got out of the water and made to move, pain flared up through her side causing her to fall to her knees to try and catch her breath. Knowing that this was truly the end, the young girl closed her eyes as she heard the laughter coming closer towards her.

"Keep living, that's all I ask of you" she whispers to the camera that she knew was close to her, it was close enough to hear her without the Careers hearing her words; for which she was thankful of that little luck.

"Well guys, it looks like the little flower is hurt" Marvel chuckled grimly as soon as they had caught up to the young girl and spotted why she had fallen and refused to move. "What's wrong? Does the Burning Rose not like fire?"

Opening her eyes as they got closer to her, she looked around to see all four of them circling her and looking at her with different expressions on their faces, Cato wasn't circling her instead he stood in front of her, his expression made Onyx wonder if he actually wanted to be there, while Clove was now stood behind her, Glimmer to her right and Marvel to her left to block any escape routes she could use.

"Just kill me so I don't have to look at your ugly mug no longer" Onyx huffed at Marvel as she scowled at the boy, she could tell there was something behind the 'excited' expression on his face but she couldn't figure out what, and probably wouldn't figure it out either.

Cato let out a small chuckle at the young girls spirit which surprised the rest of the group, it surprised Clove the most as she eyed her District partner curiously. Marvel went forward in anger, raising the tip of his spear to her throat and lifting her head so that she was now looking up at the boy who couldn't keep his eyes off of her during training and tried his hardest to unravel the mystery of the District rat from Twelve.

"This kill is mine Marvel" Cato reminded the boy with indifference as he caught the girls gaze, he didn't need to look at Marvel to remind him of that; the first night of the games was when the others confronted him about the girl in front of him and his interest so he played it off as a need to kill her and made it known that he would be the only one to end her life.

Scowling at the young girl on her knees in front of them and then at the blonde who was the 'leader' of their little gang, Marvel lowered the spear back down to the ground with a tight grip on the hilt as Onyx kept her gaze on the older boy in front of her.

"Before you kill me, tell me one thing?" Onyx requested carefully as she kept her gaze on the blonde in front of her, she could see a conflict in his eyes but she had no idea why he would be conflicted so at least she could find out why he had such an interest in her.

"What?" Cato snapped as he started to lift his sword, he didn't want to keep hearing her talk, the more she talked, the more intrigued he became and he just wanted to win these games and return home.

"Why me?" She inquired curiously as she cocked her head to the side, keeping her gaze linked with his "the looks in training, the interest in Haymitch and I, the need to kill me yourself, why me?"

Cato looked down at the fourteen year old surprised at her perceptiveness, he hadn't realised that the girl had caught him looking at her so much and didn't realise that she would actually care about why he was showing her so much interest.

"Because you were different, you are different. The district twelve orphan rat who volunteered for the games in the place of a young girl who you had no family ties too" he told her, giving into her last request, he knew that Clove was also curious about why she was so interesting to him so he was answering her questions as well and knew that he could end the games without any hesitation after she died. "You were able to get a ten in training, higher than Glimmer; you were a mystery I needed to solve"

Onyx smiled softly at him which took him by surprise as he nearly dropped the sword in his hands, he still hadn't solved the mystery but he didn't need too once she was gone because there would be no mystery to solve.

"Thank you" she muttered to him sadly, she knew that he would make her death quick and painless with one swing of his sword to her neck and for that he was giving her a kindness that the others might not have; she closed her eyes waiting for the final blow to end her life "Love you daddy"

Cato looked down at the girl in a moment of weakness as he hears the last words that she whispered to her father and looks up knowing that the others caught them too; and instead of looking at the girl in disgust at her weakness, they all looked like he felt. Hesitant to actually end her life.

Bracing himself, Cato takes a breath before lifting his arm to deliver the killing blow.

Just as he was about to bring the blade down to meet his target, the echoes of many little bells drew the attention of everyone, why would someone be sending a sponsor package at the last moment of someones life?. Onyx opened her eyes the moment that she heard the bells and looked up at Cato who was watching the five closest parachutes as he lowered his blade and glanced down at her confused.

The largest parachute soon landed in front of Onyx surprising her as she gazed at the silver box confused before gazing up at Cato who nodded and gestured for her to open it as the other four smaller parachutes landed next to their Career targets.

Opening the box shakily, her eyes began to tear up as she saw what was obviously a small care package from her father, but she was confused as to why she was sent it towards the end. There was a small pot in the corner of the box, along with packets of food that District Twelve often used because they could be kept in storage for months without spoiling and tasted better than most foods. She found another jacket as well as a new backpack since her last ones had been lost to the water and fire.

Why were these things sent to her now?, she looked around her carefully and noticed that each of the careers held letters in their hands, causing her to look deeper into the box where she found a letter hidden amongst everything.

It was obviously from her father, but written in a hurry, as if he was in danger.

_Onyx_

_Rebellions starting; District Thirteen alive and have attacked Panem. Family safe._

_Capitol not to be trusted, they saw you as a sign of rebellion (and me)._

_Keep the careers on side, they can help you survive, the force-field is coming down so get out._

_Run far and fast and stay alive darling, I'll keep living if you do._

_Don't trust every district._

_Love you rosebud_

_Dad_


	9. Chapter Nine

Onyx knelt on the floor frozen at the information that the letter in her hands contained; District Thirteen was a thing of stories that were always told in whispers around the seam and in the Hob, because of the destruction and horror that has followed since their obliteration. The District that wanted to rebel against the Capitol but instead was destroyed by bombs that they never saw coming, she looked up at Cato and the others who were still reading the letters that had come in their own packages, probably from their own mentors.

Sitting there in the silence for a few moments, Onyx contemplated running and getting out of their way just in case they decided to attack her anyway, but her father told her to stick with them; that and her side shot pain through her every time she moved slightly so she just she sighed inwardly, if it came to her running to survive then she was dead so she would take the risk.

Cato finished reading the letter in his hands in confusion and looks down at the young girl in front of him, Brutus had told him that she was his ticket to staying alive in the rebellion that was quickly dawning on them; a rebellion they all knew was brewing. He gave a silent sigh of relief at the change of events, what he had told her when she was ready to die was true, she did interest him, she was a mystery that he could now try and solve without killing her.

He looked up at the teenagers that he had somehow made a bond with, as hard as he tried not too, and was happy that he didn't have to kill them anymore, particularly since Clove had become something similar to a sister to him in the years that he had come to know her.

"So are you going to kill me or are we going to figure out what to do with the rebellion?" Onyx asked Cato as she broke the silence, she couldn't just continue sitting there in silence with her life hanging on the line and Cato was the leader so the others would follow whatever he told them to do.

Looking down at her in disbelief at her bluntness, he rolled his eyes before looking around at his allies to see what they thought of the situation; Marvel shrugged as if uncaring but Cato could see the relief in his eyes as the grip on the spear loosened, while Clove nodded at him with a small smile at the events that had taken place, Glimmer looked rather shaken at the prospect of the rebellion coming to them but she just nodded to him as she gripped the package to her chest.

"Let's go to the Cornucopia, we'll figure out what to do from there, hopefully the others will make their way there too" Cato ordered lightly, he knew that the next few hours were going to be rocky with the other tributes but they needed to work together if there really was a chance of them all surviving.

As he moved to set out Cato let out a small hiss of pain as he realised just how much of a bad decision he made when he put too much weight on his right leg where the burn on his thing now made itself known; he clenched his jaw trying to wait out the pain before bracing himself for the walk back to where they hopefully had medicine to help him.

Following Cato's example, Onyx bit her lip as she slowly tried to rise up from the floor, her skin stretching agonisingly with every movement causing small whimpers to escape with every centimetre she rose.

The ground soon disappeared from underneath her which caused a squeak to escape her lips as she found herself resting in someones arms, her injured side hit the person's chest causing her to clutch their shirt, hoping to keep her cries to herself rather than show any more weakness in front of the older tributes around her.

Looking up in confusion, she saw Marvel staring straight ahead as he carried her through the forest around them, his eyes flitting down to her every so often, maybe to make sure that she was still awake or alive; Glimmer picked up Marvel and Onyx's packages before she followed after them while keeping their eyes open for any threats, just because their mentors said the Games were over, didn't mean that they were safe.

"Didn't think you had a soft spot" Onyx whined lightly, she tried to make it into a tease aimed towards the old boy yo keep her mind off the pain but every movement made Onyx want to pass out to escape the burning that ran through her.

Marvel scoffed bitterly as he moved his gaze back down to the girl in his arms, he didn't know what came over him when he picked her up, but seeing her trying to stand with the pain that ran through her with every movement just made Marvel want to try and relieve it enough that she wasn't suffering with every step that she took "What do you know about me?"

"Not much" Onyx conceded quietly, she knew very little about the people around her, but what she did know were these teenagers were like Darius, they were pushed into a role that they needed to fill but didn't want to be; they wanted to be free, she could see it in their eyes.

After a few minutes of walking in silence the small group came out into the open clearing that had been soaked in blood just a few days ago, both Coral and the young boy from three were sat in the campsite with a letters in their hands as they tried to make out the truth of what was going on.

At the small rustling noise that the small group made as they left the forest, both Careers looked up in alarm before they caught sight of the rest of the group but both froze in surprise as their eyes landed in Onyx in Marvels arms.

Walking over to one of the heavier cases that they had in the campsite, Marvel gently placed Onyx down onto the floor, propping her up against the case before moving to maybe find something to help the girl out while Glimmer placed her package down beside her and left without a word.

Knowing that her father probably sent her something for the burn, she rummages through the box and grabs the only thing she didn't know about, the small pot was an unknown so she opened it carefully to reveal a beige coloured paste; blinking, she smiles lightly, she had seen this when Haymitch had burnt his hand on the train, it had healed his burn in an hour which was lucky for her.

Before placing it on her own injury, he looked over to where Cato was sitting down on a crate pressing a wet cloth onto a wound on his thigh, she had noticed the burn when he was readying himself to kill her and knew if she used the paste on him then she would be proving that she was on his side.

"Cato" She called out to him softly to try and gain his attention, not only did she gain his but she also gained the rest of the camps who eyed her carefully but wanted to watch the events unfold to see what she was going to do.

The blonde turned to her confused as she called him, he tried to hide the pain that the burn was causing him but was failing with every movement that caused his nerves to protest; the young girl motioned for him to go over to her and patted the ground to the left of her, cautiously he limped over to her and dropped onto the ground with a groan that he couldn't hold in.

Putting some of the paste onto her fingers, Onyx made a bold move and began to gently rub the paste onto his thigh, he grunted in surprise as her fingers spread the paste onto the burn of his thigh and nearly hit her hand away; he didn't expect this when she had called him over to her but after a few minutes he was shocked to feel that the burning pain had slowly began to dull down until that part of his thigh was numb.

When he finally looked at her hands properly he was shocked to see the tub of healing paste in her hands, he knew what the paste was for because his parents always needed to keep a pot of it around in the house and he knew Brutus had needed it during their training time after Enobaria threw a candle at him angrily.

"Dad sent me this in the package" she told him softly as she spots the mixture of surprise and confusion on his face, she could see that the paste had began to work it's magic because he was no longer tensing up in pain with every movement.

"Why did you use it on me first?" he growled out confused as to why she used it on him when she had an injury which was much worse than his own; he pauses in his anger as he notices her flinch slightly away from him.

The others in the camp looked at the young girl shocked that she had healed the one she should have considered her enemy before healing herself, Marvel had the curious urge to pull Cato away from the girl when he got angry but then noticed that the anger his friend held dissipated almost suddenly.

She shrugged a shoulder in answer to his question as she started to carefully removed the jacket that was practiaclly melted to her side before even more gently lifting her t-shirt over her head with no qualms about her surroundings; Cato let out a quiet, surprised yelp and jumped up from the ground, turning away from her almost as soon as the fabric reached her chest.

Rolling her eyes in amusment at the actions of the older boy, she finished removing her t-shirt completely, although, while her stomach was bare she had a wrapping around her chest just like most of the other girls did; she looked up at Cato who still had his back to her, then over at the other two boys who also had their backs to her while Clove, Coral and Glimmer looked on amused.

Onyx huffed in amusement at the actions of the three of them before carefully layering the paste along her side evenly, the fast acting pain relief was bliss as the healing agent began to numb the area and work at fixing up the damage to her nerve endings.

"What is wrong with you three?" Onyx laughed lightly as a smile lit her face at the absurdity of the three boys and their actions, she got that she was a young woman, younger than them but it wasn't like she would have stripped off without something covering her chest. "Seeing as how two, out of the three of you, are eighteen. I'd expect you've seen more than this"

"That isn't the point" Cato muttered to himself as clenched his eyes shut, Marvel hesitantly looked over to Onyx and sighed in relief as he noticed the wrapping around her chest, they all knew that some of the poorer districts weren't too bothered by modesty and assumed that Onyx may not have had a wrapping on hence why they all spun around.

Marvel shook his head at the young girl and then glared at Glimmer who was giggling behind her hand at the boys and their actions, it seemed that he already owed the young girl and this rebellion something considering they were able to get his District partner to laugh a genuine laugh. "It's all good man, she's got a wrapping on"

Opening his eyes and sending a small look of discomfort at Marvel, Cato turned to Onyx who just rose her eyebrows at the boy with a small smirk of mischief aimed at him; the blonde moved to sit back down next to her and looked around the edge of the forest for any signs of the other tributes, after ten minutes of peace he squinted out at one part of the forest.

"There's someone out on the edge" Cato informed the rest of the camp quietly as he spotted a small flash of red that ducked behind the bushes around the edge of the forest closest to the fields of long grass.

Watching the healing of her side was rather boring but Onyx had nothing else to do until she heard Cato and moved her gaze to where he was watching before she also noticed a flash of red; a red she had been familiar with from training. "It's Rissa from Five"

How she remembered everyone's names, she didn't know, but Onyx knew that she was most likely the less threatening of the group so she carefully got up from the floor and slowly made her way towards the edge of the forest with her hands raised; she noticed Marvel and Clove watch her. Cloves hand slowly went to the belt around her waist but she didn't pick a knife out yet, she didn't know if they could trust the other tribute so if she made any move to hurt the younger girl then she would have a knife to the throat.

Rissa watched Onyx carefully as she got closer to her, she had watched the younger girl in training and was surprised when she had learnt that the girl was a year younger than her rather than older; she was moving her weight from one leg to another waiting for any sign of danger, she could see the girl from two going for one of her knives but she hoped that she was out of range of the knife.

"Rissa?" Onyx inquired gently, startling the other girl out of her thoughts as the red head turned her attention back to the younger girl "Listen, I'm not going to hurt you, did you get a letter from your mentor too?"

Watching Onyx, Rissa was shocked that she knew her name considering she wasn't much of a threat to her or an ally, she nodded her head once in confirmation that he had received a letter which caused Onyx to smile reassuringly as she stopped a few feet from the girl; she could see the girls eyes darting between her and the Careers behind her and knew that this was going to be a hard task to reassure her.

"They're not going to hurt you, our mentors told us that the rebellion is coming and that we need to ally ourselves together and run" she explained carefully, she would have had the same reservations if it wasn't the fact that they were just about to kill her when the letters came and then they let her go "will you join us and let us talk? I promise you that they won't attack"

He initial instincts were telling her to run but instead Rissa slowly stepped forward towards Onyx who smiled brightly at the older girl, holding out her hand for the young girl who hesitantly smiled back as she took the hand that was offered and allowed herself to be led to where the others stood wearily.

This was going to be a long day.


	10. Chapter Ten

It was a tense half hour after Rissa had joined the small group at the cornucopia, it had taken twenty minutes for the girl to relax enough that she didn't look like she was about to dart away at the smallest movement; but all it took was Glimmer to offer to brush and braid the girls fire red hair for Rissa to realise that she wasn't going to be killed by them. After those initial moments of tension between the group, Onyx was able to settle down again and listen to Marvel and Cato until Rue cautiously made her way into the open hidden behind the rock that was Thresh.

Thresh looked like he wanted to be anywhere else rather than standing in the open in front of those who were ready to kill him a few hours ago.

"We were told to join forces" Thresh ground out to the others as they went on guard and he kept Rue hidden behind him, the little girl was easily hidden behind the young man and could have easily run without any of them knowing that she had been there.

Smiling at the sight of the little girl that had made an impression on Onyx during training and during the interviews, she waved to the little girl ignoring the looks of weariness that everyone else was wearing. Rue caught Onyx's eyes and brightened up as soon as she saw the other girl and instantly waved back happily before darting out from behind Thresh, he tensed as she ran into Onyx's arms but soon relaxed as Onyx laughed hugging her tightly, she had gotten to know the girl a little in training so it was nice to see her alive and well.

Cato watched the two girls carefully before rolling his eyes and moving closer to the older boy that had refused their invitation to join the Careers earlier on in the lead up to the arena.

"We were hoping that you would get here before morning, we're hoping to leave this place then and find out where the arena is situated this year when we get outside of the force-field" Cato explained to the other boy as he held his hand out, hoping that the alliance won't be turned away this time around.

"I opted to find you and leave as soon as we possibly could, so that the Capitol can't hit back at us and try and destroy hope in our districts" Onyx informed Thresh from where she was sat with Rue still in her lap as Cato glared at her for her comment, he didn't like that she was speaking against his idea but he did have to concede that it was a good idea as a secondary plan.

Looking between the two of them, Thresh takes Cato's hand and shakes it to indicated that he accepted this alliance this time, now that he knew that Rue would be safe as well; looking closer, Thresh could see the healing burn on her side, but she didn't seem to be too bothered by it, and then looked at the crates piled up before he looked over the rest of the group; who seemed to be wide awake, many of them watching their surroundings wearily.

"I agree with Twelve" Thresh told the blonde bluntly as he released his hand, he could tell that Cato was surprised by his input and Onyx just smirked at the blonde. "We're all watching our surroundings too much to have a chance to sleep properly, the Capitol see Twelve as a sign of rebellion, and us as symbols of hope in our districts. If they can kill or catch us then they may see themselves as winners rather than on the losing side, the longer we stay here, the longer we're easier targets for them and we need to remove the trackers from our arms."

Cocking her head to the side curiously, Onyx eyed Thresh who seemed to squirm slightly at the attention that he was receiving from the younger girl.

"That's the most I've ever heard you speak" Onyx noted causing the group to burst into laughter, even Thresh chuckled at her; during the interviews, he had spoken short answers and put across the idea that he was silent and stoic which was the truth.

  
Sighing, Cato knew when he was outnumbered, that was the reason he and Marvel were having a small debate, the other boy believed that Onyx had the better idea along with Clove while the others wanted to stick with Cato; but now Thresh and most likely Rue will side with Onyx. He had to admit that she was right, and they were sitting ducks by staying in the arena, but he was rather worried about what they were going to find outside of the forcefield; he nodded to Thresh and began to move to where the supply crates were.

"We need to figure out what we can't afford to leave behind and what we can" Cato starts ordering them as he rummaged through one crate and Thresh and Marvel started working on the others, Clove started collecting everyone's packs and emptied them all while Glimmer went through the packages that they had all been sent.

They had surprisingly been able to condense three crates and the bags and packages into ten different packs, he knew that out of the ten of them, only three of them would be able to deal with extra weight so he made sure that the biggest packs held the heaviest items which he, Marvel and Thresh would be carrying; while the lightest packs would be going to Rue, Onyx and Link who were the youngest of the group. Onyx scowled at Cato as she realised what he was doing but didn't argue as she grabbed a clean shirt and changed before putting on the new jacket her father had sent her.

After packing the ten bags, Cato grimaed as he looked over at Marvel, both of them having the same thought; there wasn't enough food to keep them alive since they had no idea where they even were in Panem, even with the stuff their mentors sent them.

"There's not enough to keep us alive for more than a week, maybe two if we ration but with the youngsters....." Marvel noted looking at Cato who sighed with a nod, if they wanted to stay strong enough to keep going but also to fight whatever would be coming their way then they would need more than they had.

The rest of the camp startled slightly at the conversation between the two boys, they knew they would have trouble surviving but didn't realise just how soon they would be facing it.

"I can hunt" Onyx piped up from where she was sitting reorganising her pack so that the heavier stuff was more spaced out and not all at the bottom.

At the statement, everyone in the camp turned to the young girl with shock and disbelief evident on their faces, she looked around at everyone staring at her and got confused as to why they were so shocked.

"What?" She snapped defensively as she fights the urge to curl in on herself or ruc away from the stares that were being sent her way, she knew it wasn't a talent people expected District Twelve to have but she had spent hours in the snare area in training so they shouldn't be too shocked.

"You can hunt" Glimmer echoed her statement, the disbelief evident on her face and in her voice as she took in the appearance of the young girl in front of her as if seeing her in a new light.

Onyx blushed as she realised just why the lot of them were so shocked by her statement, she forgot it was illegal to hunt, although she was also breaking the rules by avoiding the community homes so she was used to being stealthy. "I hunted to stay alive back home, some times it was the only way I could eat or trade"

Getting over his shock quicker than the rest of the group, Marvel looked over Onyx impressed before leaving Cato's side to where Glimmer still stood eyeing the girl curiously and took the bow from beside her; Glimmer nearly went to protest at the loss of her weapon but she watched as he walked over to Onyx and handed her the bow with a wink.

"There you go flower, hopefully you can continue to keep us all alive" he grins before heading off towards where his pack was so he could take stock of what he actually had.

Glowering after the boy at the nickname that he continued to use for her, she couldn't help but blush lightly at the teasing and the wink; it was rare that she got flustered even if she didn't see Marvel as a potential love interest, she's never seen anyone in that way.

"Everyone ready?" Cato asked abruptly with a small glare at Marvel who just smirked at the younger boy and gave a small unabashed shrug as he moved to Glimmer and handed her, her pack.

Onyx frowned at the abruptness of the blonde but shrugged lightly and climbed up from the floor gingerly, Rue moved to her side and took her hand while Thresh and Rissa came behind them as the small group moved towards the forest, away from the clearing that had seen so much bloodshed.

Now they were going into the unknown and it terrified all tenof them, but they were all determined to survive the upcoming journey.


	11. Chapter Eleven

Tiredly, Onyx glared at the small group of boys in front of them, beside her was Rue and Rissa who both looked like they were ready to collapse in tiredness, and just in front of her were Glimmer and Coral, muttering to each other, and then Clove who was faltering as she walked and nearly lost her footing more than once as she tried to keep pace with the idiot boys in front of her; Link had somehow ended up falling behind the boys and ended up next to Rissa.

The small group of tributes had been walking for nine hours non stop since they had decided to leave the arena and it was slowly beginning to get darker as the day began to end, the older boys showed no sign of tiring in their journey while the girls and Link were slowly losing their stamina. Glimmer glanced back for a moment and caught sight of Rue beside Onyx, dragging her feet and rubbing her eyes with a yawn; the older girl she quickly took her backpack from the twelve year old as well as from Coral as Coral picked the girl up and placed her on her hip.

“I’m pretty sure we’ve left the arena by now” Onyx called out to the boys tiredly as she rubbed her own eyes, her free hand going down the her side that, while healed, was still twinging slightly as the now scarred wound protested the movements "Can we settle down for the night?"

Looking back at the girls, Cato couldn't see that they were lagging, he was too focused on the prospect of getting as far away from the arena as possible; he looked over at Marvel who just shrugged, not bothering to look behind them at the girls.

“We keep going” Cato decided without turning to anyone else for their opinion before he turned his back to the girls and continued walking ahead of them, his pace getting a little faster as if to spite the girl for asking for a break.

Glaring at the back of the older boys head, Onyx clenched her fist and took a deep breath before she lost her temper with the blonde, she looked over at Clove who was surprisingly also glaring at the two boys at the head of the group; it seems that the older girl needed a break as well but wanted to remain stoic rather than speak out. The two of them both looked at each other before looking down at the stones and twigs on the floor and nodded with small smiles before the both of them ducked down and grabbed their ammunition; Onyx took aim with a small rock in her hand and threw it, harder than normal but not as hard as she could, she hit her target when the small rock bounced off of Marvels head, and Clove did the same to Cato.

Yelping in surprise and pain as the small projectile hit the back of his head, Marvel and Cato turned to glare angrily at the two girls who both stood their ground against the boys that they had angered; Thresh looked behind him and watched worried for the two girls before he noticed why they had caught the others attention, he moved gracefully and took Rue from Coral who smiled gratefully at him as Rue yawned and buried her head into Thresh’s neck sleepily.

Both boys looked at each other before Marvel took a step towards Onyx, he wasn't going to hurt her but she backed up quickly, the defiance on her face faltering slightly as she took in the sight of the upset boy in front of her.

“We need to stop” She told the older boy as forceful as she could to get her point across before he hit her for throwing something at him.

The older boy looked her over carefully as his anger faltered, his eyes drifting over to Cato who was watching the both of them closely and then around to the other girls and Link who all looked like they were about to collapse from exhaustion; Marvel shrugged at Cato who rolled his eyes but agreed that they needed to stop and dropped his pack onto the floor.

“Fine we stop but we need to find somewhere more sheltered” Cato sighed as he looked around them at the open area that would mean they would be easy pickings to hovercraft's if they fell asleep.

Every one of the tired group, except the three oldest boys, let out a collective sigh of relief before they began searching for a more covered spot where they could sleep in peace of not being found from above.

Ten minutes of searching found a space that was covered by leaves as the branches seemed to intertwine to make a roof above them which allowed them to relax enough that some of them could sleep; after half hour, the surviving tributes of the 74th annual Hunger Games were all either fast asleep or awake enough to sit and listen to conversations around them, Onyx had sat herself outside of the circle with her back against a tree as she stared up at the stars that she could make out.

Cato, Clove, Glimmer and Marvel were all curled up in a small group talking about home and sometimes whispering so quietly that no one else could pick up the words while Coral and Link were curled up with each other, both of them fast asleep and using each other as pillows and sources of heat while Rissa and Thresh sat speaking to each other about random things as Rue slept peacefully in Thresh's lap; her face hidden in the boys neck as she clung to his shirt.

Marvel glanced around the area that they had set up camp in while the other three were talking and frowns lightly when he spots Onyx sitting away from the group, staring up at the stars; as he looks at the other three in his group, he could see that he wasn't the only one worried about the young girl. Cato was watching her too.

Ever since the training sessions, Marvel knew that Cato saw something in the District Twelve girl and when they both saw her in her interview dress, he could see the interest in the blonde had gone from a curiosity to possibly more than just a need to solve a puzzle; Marvel had seen it as a weakness he could exploit towards the end.

But then he had also taken note of the girl, she was young and while she was far from holding the innocence that Rue still held, she still had that childlike air around her. Hearing that she was an orphan and that the drunken mentor was the only family she had made Marvels heart ache for just a moment, he was reminded of his little brother when he looked at her and knew that his brother would never have survived what she did. But then she showed up in the arena, and showed the defiance in face of her own death and Marvel was ready to end her life because he didn't know if Cato would make it painless or draw it out even though none of them had actually enjoyed killing the kids they had killed.

Catching Cato's eye, Marvel nodded lightly before climbing up from his makeshift seat and heading towards where the young girl was hidden away. Getting closer to the girl, he spotted the moment that he startled her as she sensed his presence appear beside her, when she looked over and spotted him, she looked down at her lap; biting her lip.

“What are you doing over here on your own?" Marvel asked her carefully as he looks up at the stars above him before looking over at her, he frowns slightly as she keeps her gaze away from him.

“I'm sorry I hit you with a rock” Onyx apologised quietly, not bothering answering his question and refusing to look up from where she was staring at the colours of her trousers, not making eye contact with the boy.

Pausing for a moment, Marvel couldn't help but snort in amusement at the apology that she was giving him and picked up a stick before drawing shapes in the mud, a small smile appearing on his face at the reason she was hiding.

“Cato and I should have realised that we were going too long without a break, I'm surprised that you, Rue and Link lasted the amount of time that you did” Marvel waves off the apology, the three of them were the youngsters in the group and even with the training, it would have only been a matter of time before one of them collapsed from exhaustion, especially since Link wouldn't have slept that much the night before; he chuckles lightly as a thought occurred to him “You have a good aim”

Onyx frowns lightly at the dismissive tone and the explanation and gets even more confused as he chuckles, most people would have hit her before now for doing something as bold as throwing a rock at them; the only nice peacekeeper she had ever met was Darius but when he wasn't around, the others held no hesitation in trying to force her to behave or force her into the community home.

“You’re not mad” Onyx whispers confused, he could barely hear her words but he understood them; the confusion in her voice made his heart break just a bit more and made him want to hurt whoever had hurt her before now.

Looking to the side of him, he catalogues just how small the young girl was trying to make herself; the young girl who had inadvertently saved his life and the life of his friends looked her age at this moment as she shivered from the cold. Marvel watched her for a moment longer before he stripped off his own jacket and draped it around her shoulders and pulled her into his side, ignoring the flinch at the unexpected turn of events.

“I’m not mad at you Onyx” He promised her firmly, as he held her close to him. “I was when you first hit me, but now, although, please don’t throw a rock at my head again, and don’t do it to Cato either, I can't promise that I'll let it go next time”

At his promise, he could feel the young girl stiffen a little before relaxing and nodding into his side with a small unsure smile aimed up at him, which brought a smile of his own.

After nearly five minutes of sitting in silence, Marvel had thought that the young girl had fallen asleep with how quiet she was but when he looked down, he could see her wide awake and deep in thought; looking around he noticed that Thresh had finally fallen asleep with Rissa curled into his side while his friends were still talking with each other but had moved closer to each other to keep warm.

“What’s District One like?”

Marvel was pulled from his observations of the group by the quiet question from the young girl, he wasn't sure why she was asking about his home district but he didn't mind answering her questions; maybe she would be able to fall asleep as he talked.

“It's not what most of the other districts think it is, it’s a strict place to live” he starts quietly, he knew people thought that because District One was booming with money, that they lived well, but most of the money went to the Capitol and being so close to the key city of Panem meant that they were under much more scrutiny than other Districts were. “Because we’re so close to the Capitol, we need to be perfect for the politicians who travel the high up districts and if there are people that aren't perfect then they are punished severely”

There's a moment of silence as Onyx takes in the new information, while District One had better living conditions and food than District Twelve, they seemed to have worse rules and even harsher peacekeepers than Twelve did.

“What's your family like?”

Marvel sighed at the new question and looked up into the sky as he began to run his hand through the young girls messy hair, “My pa was always quite strict with me as I was growing up but he’s rather lenient on my little brother, although, it will probably change as soon as my brother hits seven because of training for the games. My ma though, she tries to spend as much time with me and my brother as possible, just in case we never made it back from the Games”

Looking up when he felt eyes on him, Marvel caught both Glimmer and Cato watching the both of them, he grinned mischievous as he catches Glimmers eyes and winked at her, feeling slightly smug as she blushed lightly and turned back to her conversation with Clove.

"Come on Flower, let's get you closer to the group so you can get some more warmth, you need to get some sleep too, and I'm not leaving you here alone" Marvel ordered in the tone he often used on his little brother as he pushed himself off the floor and took her hand, pulling her from the floor and leading her to his small group.

“You need sleep too” She whines lightly in protest against the order which only served to remind Marvel of her age, rather than let her stay up as long as he did.  
Snorting at the tone she used as she pouted, Marvel shook his head and guided her to sit between him and Cato, the bigger boy being able to offer more body heat to the still shivering young girl; he nods to the others before wrapping an arm around Onyx.

“What about District Twelve? What’s home like for you?” He asked her quietly as the questions she asked him played on his mind; Glimmer and Clove both stopped their conversation to listen to the answers the young girl gave while Cato tried to look uninterested but Marvel could tell that the young girl had their full attention.  
Onyx froze a little at the question and chewed her bottom lip, deliberating on how to answer the question before she tired started to play with the fabric of the extra jacket around her shoulders.

“It’s never really been home” she admits to the small group as she plays with the sleeve of Marvel’s jacket, not looking up at any of them, she didn't need to see the pity that she often saw when people looked at her. “It was always just me, my ma and my pa; until my pa died when I was nine. He was a miner, we don't have that many job opportunities in Twelve so he went to work in the mines, but one day in school the floors underneath us shook more violently than they had in years, there was an explosion in the mine that he was in, he and a number of others were buried alive; as was the father of the little girl that I volunteered for. A year later ma died of pneumonia, she had no reason to fight the illness and we didn't have a proper income anymore.

A couple of months later I met Haymitch, but he had to leave every year for the games so was never a constant but when he was home, he looked after me. There were two families that tried to help keep me alive because they had lost their fathers/husbands in the mine accident too, they were like a kind of family but they had their blood relatives to look after, they had little ones that needed them; the only home I have is with Haymitch”

Onyx yawned as the exhaustion from the past twenty four hours started to overwhelm her, she rubbed her eyes lightly and took a leap of faith as she rested her head in Marvels lap; she nearly flinched in surprise as Cato picked her legs up and placed them on his lap so that she was in a more comfortable position.

For the first time since leaving her father on the rooftop of the apartments, she felt at home with those she hadn't long considered as her enemies; Onyx knew that she shouldn't feel so at home with the group that almost killed her earlier that day, but she could see beyond the masks they wore.

They were pawns in the Games, just like she was and she could see their masks falling as they got further away from the arena that should have become their graves.

Marvel had opened up to her and told her about his family and his district, he could have easily told her to keep her nose out of his life but he told her about his mother and father and even mentioned his little brother.

“Marvel?” she murmurs half asleep as a thought catches her attention

“Hmm?” he hums lightly in question as he continued his conversation with Glimmer, his friend lowering her voice a little so that they could catch whatever she was going to ask the older boy.

“Is this what it’s like to have a real brother?” she inquired with a yawn and she blinks up at him, only half aware of who still surrounded her, she was fighting against the sleep that wanted to claim her so that she could talk to the boy who held her close.

Marvel froze at the question and looked up at his friends like a deer caught in the sights of a hunter, Glimmer looked down at the young girl in her friends lap and smiled lightly at him while Cato seemed to relax at the question, Clove just rolled her eyes at her district partner before she started getting ready to join the girl in sleep; Marvel smiles gently as he ran his fingers through her hair again, he needed to ask Glimmer to tame it for her tomorrow.

He wasn't very close to his little brother, when his brother was born, Marvel was a year into training for the games so all his attention was on training, he would rarely speak to Tywin unless he was looking after him for a night while his parents went out to dinner parties; leaving him for the Games should have been harder than it was but the thought of leaving Onyx made him ready to fight whoever thought they could separate them.

“I guess so” he answered her in a whisper as her breathing finally evened out, now that she had finally given up on the fight against sleep.

He looked up at the other three around him in shock and surprise at the turn of events, when they had started the Games, Marvel had tried pushing everyone away from, he had pushed Glimmer towards Cato to remove his feelings from the equation but as she leans her head on his shoulder, he realises that it didn't work out how he expected; he had a best friend in both Cato and Clove who just smirked at him.

“Looks like you have a new little sister” Cato chuckled in amusement, his grin getting wider as the young girl curled further into his friends lap, he was glad that Onyx was able to find a protector in their little group; it meant that she wouldn't get hurt.

Cato knew what he felt for the young girl was no longer just curiosity about the mystery that she posed, but because she was unique and definitely beautiful; she was strong and defiant in the face of those who could hurt her and yet she was kind and giving too, her age didn't matter to him, his parents had more than two years between them but he knew nothing would ever happen between them until she hit sixteen.

Marvel glared at his laughing friend, but then he smirked as he caught the look in the blondes' eyes as he gazed down at the young woman in his lap. “Looks like you’ll have to pass me before you try anything with my baby sister”

Cato’s smirk fell from his face as he blinked at Marvel in slightly shock and disbelief, he didn't know he was being so obvious with his affections towards Onyx, but he would accept whatever tests Marvel threw his was if he wanted him to prove himself; the look on Cato's face caused Glimmer to start giggling and Thresh to chuckle from where he was half asleep as the conversations around them began to taper of to a silence.

Marvel took the first watch as he kept an eye on the people around him, he wouldn't let anything happen to any of the people he had grown to care for; if anyone tried then they would be meeting their end before they even saw who killed them.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> List of tributes and their ages (in order of district):  
> Marvel (17) & Glimmer (16)  
> Cato (16) & Clove (15)  
> Link (14)  
> Coral (16)  
> Rissa (15)  
> Thresh (18) & Rue (12)  
> Onyx (14)

Rue raced about in front of the group of weary tributes, the events of the past near two weeks didn't seem to phase the young girl now that they had gotten out of the arena and far enough away from it to know for sure that they had escaped the hell they had been sent too.

It had been nearly a week since the ten teenagers had received word from the their mentors about the rebellion that was beginning to rage throughout Panem, and in that time none of them had come across any peacekeepers or signs of anyone searching for them; but they all knew that it was only a matter of time before someone found them.

In fact, the trees slowly seemed to be thinning out as they continued to walk through their days; over the past week, the group seemed to have overcome the fear they held of each other and had begun to form bonds that were becoming unbreakable.

After the first night where she had fallen asleep in Marvels lap, the older boy had taken Onyxs' question to heart and became more of a big brother figure than Gale ever was to her, he took to making sure that she ate enough and slept enough to keep going and even took to glaring at Cato every now and again when the the blonde caught Onyx up in conversations about random topics.

Thresh, it turns out, was actually Rue's uncle, his older brother was Rue's father who they had lost a number of years ago but not many people knew about the connection and they both made sure to keep quiet so that it couldn't be used against them in the Games; but even though he spent most of his time keeping his eye on his young niece, the quiet boy from Eleven seemed to have found a kindred spirit in the cunning fox from Five who spent most of her days with the two.

Although he spent half his attention on keeping Onyx safe, to her annoyance, Marvel had finally accepted the spark of feelings he held for Glimmer and both of them were beginning to get to know each other as more than just District partners. Glimmer had taken one look at the relationship forming between Marvel and Onyx and declared that she was now also Glimmers little sister; which was made even more evident when Marvel asked Glimmer to help tame the young girls hair and braid it so it wasn't so unruly.

Onyx's hair was a length most people in the upper districts hated because of how untamed it would become even after the stylists had cut a lot off, so Glimmer had ended up grabbing Clove and after the two girls had fought through the tangles and branches in her hair, they had determined that most of her hair was dead or split ends, so using one of Cloves knives, they had cut it shorter despite Onyx's protests; and then Glimmer braided it and had taken to doing her hair every morning to keep it tamed.

Coral seemed to have found a best friend in both Link and Clove but Clove could see that there was a chance that something more will happen sooner or later between the other two so she kept herself from becoming too invested with the two, instead she spent half her time with Onyx because of the mutual respect they had both held for each other since the very beginning of the games.

It was a quiet moment as they travelled through the forest watching Rue act like the child she hadn't been able to become because of the games, Marvel was chatting with Glimmer, his arm around her shoulders as he scanned the area for any threats while Cato was silent as he too kept an eye on the surrounding area.

Onyx was between two groups as they walked quietly, Cato was in front, with Marvel and Glimmer, his eyes often darting to watch Rue before going back to scan the area, just behind him was Thresh and Rissa having a conversation about the plant life around them; Clove was beside Thresh with a knife out as she whittled a branch down to a spike for extra arrows for the bow that Onyx had thrown over her back. Then there was Onyx alone, and behind he trailed Coral and Link who were whispering to each other, their hands brushing each others slightly before they both pulled away only for the motion to repeat every minute or so causing Onyx to smile softly.

It was Rissa that pulled Onyx from her musings about the past week as she caught the girls gaze flickering over to Clove and her knife more than ten times in less than a minute; it made her remember how Rissa was at a disadvantage every time she went to the knives in training and gave up after the first week but eyed the knives quite often towards the end.

Making a decision, she knew that many of them probably had skills they wanted to learn or needed to learn to aid them in the upcoming rebellion, and who better to teach them than the Career tributes who excelled in nearly every weapon they held.

"Marvel?" Onyx called lightly which caught the attention of the whole group because she often stayed quiet when they were walking unless one of the others pulled her into a conversation.

Marvel looked back at his new little sister and frowns lightly as he slips away from Glimmer with a small smile, before slipping through the gap between Thresh and Clove as they continued to walk on through the forest.

"What's up little doe?" He questioned her lightly as he fell in line with her and threw his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into his side, it was a habit he had fallen into doing since the first night they spent outside of the arena; that and running his hands through her hair at night now that it was tamer.

Blushing lightly at the nickname the older boy had given her, she scowls slightly and nudges him like she had done every time he had called her the name; it was much better than Flower, which Cato had adopted instead, but it was still embarrassing, but it was a good embarrassing.

"I was wondering if you would maybe teach me a little about throwing a spear" She inquired lightly but loud enough for the others to hear her, she knew they had all witnessed her attempt at spear throwing in training, but that was with spears that weren't her weight; she knew that the trainer wanted to switch the spears which was why she had run before he could.

Marvel stopped dead in his tracks and nearly caused Link and Coral to bump into them as the whole group stopped at the question that she had aimed towards the older boy, he looked at her in surprise while the other tributes looked at her in interest before a few of them decided to join the topic.

"I wouldn't mind learning to use a knife" Rissa brought up quietly and hesitantly as she looked over at Clove and eyed the knife in her hand curiously, when she originally started to learn, she was faced with the daunting girl from Two who glared at her for even attempting the same station as her so she halfheartedly tried and then ran.

"I should probably get better at shooting a bow" Glimmer sighed dramatically while winking at Onyx to show her that she knew what she was doing, she too had caught the looks that Rissa was sending at Clove and her knives.

"Can I learn how to fight?" Rue asked as she jumped on the bandwagon, but instead of going to Thresh, she moved straight to Cato and jumped, grabbing his arm before hanging off of him with puppy dog eyes that she knew Thresh was somewhat immune too.

Shocked by the fact that the twelve year old was hanging off of him, Cato looked back at Thresh for help but the large boy just smirked at him letting him deal with the young girls questions. He didn't mind the youngster learning how to fight from the blonde because he knew Cato knew his stuff and wouldn't hurt Rue; he had proved that this past week.

The blonde had started to notice that the youngest was getting tired before any of them and would either inform Thresh or would either lift her onto his shoulders, put her on his back or pick her up and place her on his hip because of how small she was; he looked after her and Thresh knew he would do so when training her too.

"How about we stop for a little bit then, we can sort out lessons while we have a break" Cato suggested cautiously as he hesitantly agrees to train the young girl, allow he had a little idea before she learnt from him.

Rue grinned happily as she clapped her hands excited and started jumping up and down before darting around the group again giggling which caused the rest of the group to smile at her and her childish nature.

Sighing happily at the idea of a break, Glimmer moved to where her boyfriend and unofficial little sister were and took Onyx's hand, pulling her to a fallen log and pushing her down onto it before pulling out a make shift comb and undoing the young girls hair.

"Glimmer" Onyx pouted as the girl started to fight with the tangles that had already began to form in her hair, the fair haired girl had stated earlier in the week that because of the thickness of her hair, the tangles would appear often so she needed to brush it more if she wasn't careful.

Shaking his head lightly at his girlfriend and sister, Marvel moved back to where Cato was standing and offered to stand guard while everyone figured out what they wanted to do during the next few hours or days.

"So who wants to learn what?" Cato more or less demanded as Marvel stood guard at the area that the trees were thinner, he turned his attention to the group who had broken up and settled in areas around the small field that they had stopped in.

Onyx put her hand up, earning a grumble from Glimmer for jostling her. "To throw a spear, I wasn't very good at it in training"

Marvel smiled teasingly back at Onyx and nodded mock seriously. "I saw how bad you were in training, we'll work on it before going to sleep tonight"

Onyx scowled at Marvel playfully and stuck her tongue out at him with a small pout as she let Glimmer finish her hair "I was only bad because the spear wasn't my weight, the guy was going to grab one I could have thrown which was why I ran"

All six Careers stare at the young girl for a moment before Cato shook his head and went back to the task in hand, they needed to try and teach the others ways of surviving if they got seperated and they couldn't do that if they were distracted.

"You need to stop surprising us like that little doe" Marvel informs her proudly before turning his attention back towards the area in front of him, it was exceptionally rare for someone to realise their faults and then run when someone was going to help them correct the problem; the young girl would have excelled in District One or District Two as a trainee apart from her inability to follow rules. 

"Could I possibly learn how to throw knives" Rissa inquired quietly breaking up the small silence that the younger girl had caused by her defence towards her brothers teasing, the younger girl was constantly surprising them all; but Rissa shouldn’t be too surprised, she had met a number of kids that were forced to grow up too fast and faced impossible situations and they came out on top like Onyx or they broke under the pressure.

Clove tore her attention from the arrow that she was carving and eyed the red haired carefully as she sized her up before then nodded with a light shrug of her shoulders. The other girl had the right stature for throwing knives and Clove knew she understood the art of precision with how fast she was able to type the plants into the desktop in training without even looking. 

"Sure, we can do it as we walk" Clove shrugged, throwing knives didn’t require standing around and by moving they could make sure that Rissa was able to hit both moving targets or targets as they were running themselves.

Rissa smiled brightly at the stoic girl from Two and was shocked to receive a smile in return, she hadn’t gathered the courage to talk to many of the former Career tributes alone in the past week which she really needed to change; training with the smaller girl should definitely help with that. 

"I want to learn how to fight" Rue giggled as she tried to tackle Thresh but obviously failed because of the large size difference between her and her uncle.

Chuckling at his nieces attempt to knock him over, Thresh just rolls his eyes before going to the default move he used whenever she or her siblings were play fighting back in the district; he scoops her up and puts her over his shoulder in one fluid movement which elicited a squeak and a laugh from the twelve year old. 

"I think if she starts to learn with the girls first there'll be less of a chance of her getting hurt, plus they are closer to her size will have better moves for her to learn" Cato decided as he turns his words to Thresh, who mulled over the plan and nodded in acceptance; with Rue learning from those with a similar stature and size she could have a better chance at going against Cato later on.

"We could plan shifts on who teaches her when we stop for lunch?" Onyx offered with a smile as she watched the young girl wriggling over Thresh's shoulder. "I need to go hunting soon so maybe I can show Glimmer how to shoot then?"

At the offer of being taught how to shoot Glimmer squealed happily and hugged the younger girl tightly in thanks, they all knew that Glimmer wasn't the best shot which was why Marvel had given Onyx the bow in the first place but she wanted to learn so that she could do something for the group whenever Onyx was busy.

Without looking towards the two boys that had more or less become the leaders of their ragtag group Onyx pulled her bow up from where she had set it on the floor, she climbed up from the log and took Glimmers hand, pulling the older girl towards the forest. 

"Onyx" Marvel started, his tone both holding worry and a warning as he eyed his girlfriend and sister wearily before taking a step towards her.

Looking behind her at the older boy, she rolled her eyes at the worry she could see in his eyes, they all knew that she knew her way around the forest because she had been able to hide from everyone to show them that advantages of still being in the forest.

"It'll be fine Marvel, I have my bow and I have Glimmer with me" Onyx told the older boy, slightly annoyed with how protective he was of her but also touched that he cared enough to worry.

Looking between the both girls, he could see Glimmer roll her eyes at his protectiveness and sighs lightly before moving his attention back to his sister, opening his mouth to say something else until she interrupted him.

"Besides, we need stealth and you aren't very good at that" Onyx teased him before she pulled Glimmer with her into the forest so that he didn't have time to come up with a retort.

Laughing lightly at the young girls audacity, Glimmer shakes her head and skips so that she was right next to the other girl rather than being pulled along by her; after a few minutes of walking, Onyx stopped and listened before she heard the small crack of a twig breaking.

Putting her finger to her lips, Onyx held out her hand to the older girl so that she would stay where she was rather than scaring away whatever was coming near to them, crouching down and raising her bow slowly Onyx paused lightly as a little hare soon came into view before it soon hit the ground with an arrow piercing it's heart.

As Onyx rose from her crouch, Glimmer gaped at the young girl in shock, when she said that she could hunt, she did not expect a shot to the heart the moment that the little thing entered the clearing. 

"Good shot" Glimmer whispered in awe as she eyed the young girl in a new light, no wonder she got a ten from the gamemakers if she could shoot so well.

Smiling shyly yet proudly at the shock on the older girls face, Onyx held the bow and arrows out to the blonde who refused to take them from the younger girl, taking a step back and shaking her head.

"I can't beat that shot" she told the younger girl as she crossed her hands across her chest, she wanted to learn how to shoot but now she understood why the others wouldn't go near the stations that her and her friends were the best at; it was daunting to be faced with someone better than them.

Chuckling lightly, Onyx moved forward and took the other girls hand before placing an arrow into it. "You don't need to beat my shot we just need some food"

* * *

After nearly an hour of tracking their prey, Glimmer and Onyx made their way back to the group and walked into the small camp laughing as they dropped five very dead hares next to a tiny fire that had been erected and hidden to try and minimise the smoke; Rue and Thresh must have gone berry picking, since there was a pile of edible berries in a bag next to the make shift spit that someone had built.

Coral was in the middle of showing Rue some small grappling moves that could help her get of someones arms and was using Link as a test dummy, while Thresh was watching them carefully with a fond smile. Rissa and Clove were on the edge of the group and seemed to be going over how to hold the knives properly to have the best strength behind a throw; while Marvel and Cato were close to the fire and stared at the girls in shock as they took in the amount of hares that they were able to catch in such a short about of time.

"She's a very good teacher" Glimmer shrugged at them as she placed the box next to the fire, she had shot two of the hares, each hit going into the stomach while Onyx's arrows wither landed through the eye or throw the heart. "but she shot the majority of these"

Finally having to realise that the young girl could defend herself, Marvel sent an impressed and proud look over at Onyx before frowning at her lightly as she spots the wood in her hands.

Smiling lightly, Onyx waves off his curiosity before placing the wood down away from the fire and moving over to Clove and Rissa were sitting, she needed a knife for to skin the hare's but also to use for her little project.

"Clove can I borrow a knife?" She inquired with a small innocent smile aimed at the older girl, she knew that Clove held her knives close to her for protection but she only needed one and she had about ten.

Eyeing Onyx cautiously, Clove took a minute to decide if it was worth it before handing her a knife from that he hadn't touched since putting them on her belt at the start of the games. Onyx smiled in thanks before bouncing over to the fire with a light skip in her step.

Sitting down, she was unaware of the five eyes that followed her movements curiously, the five of them watched in a shocked silence as Onyx began to skin the hares that she had caught without hesitation or any sign that the blood bothered her; as soon as she finished skinning the five of them, she laid them out on an old piece of fabric before moving away from the fire with her wood which she began carving and shaping, turning and twisting bits of the bark. 

Noticing that the other two had gotten back from hunting and there were five freshly skinned hares by the fire, Coral called a break on the training with Rue and made her way to the fire since she was the only one, other than Onyx, who knew how to cook on a spit.

"Foods done" Coral called out after half an hour of working on the meat that she was given, she had wanted to make more than just chunks of meat but with their water supply running lower than they would like, she had to make do with what they had.

After hours of walking, the teenagers were all starving so instantly made their way to where there was warm food, something they hadn't had since the games first started.

Within moments the small group had finished their food, sending their thanks to the hunters amongst them before going back to their conversations and the little lessons they were all giving; Onyx moved away from the group and sat back down on the log before continuing with her project.

"Didn't you want to learn how to throw a spear, little Doe?" Marvel inquired with a laugh as he pulled himself away from the conversation he and Cato were having, he hadn't realised how dark it was getting until the both boys began to shiver from the cold that the dark brought.

He moved over to where his little sister was sat and laughs lightly as she seemed to look around he confused at the lack of light before sending sheepish smile at Marvel who just shook his head, taking her hand and flinching lightly by how cold her hands were; with a small noise of scolding, he pulled her towards the fire and pushed her down next to Cato who instantly threw his jacket over the girls shoulders when he noticed the blue twinge to her lips.

"You need to start being more aware" Cato muttered in scolding as he poked at the fire, now that it was darker, there was less chance of smoke being spotted so they could make a bigger fire than the mini one they'd made for food.

"We'll start spear work tomorrow" Marvel decided as he dropped down next to her and smiled as Glimmer instantly moved to curl into his side; his eyes soon landed on the project in her hands before he looked up at her dumbfounded "Onyx how do you know how to make a bow?"

Onyx looked down at the small project that sat innocently in her lap, she didn’t realise just how far she had actually gotten with it, all she really need to do was make the twine to use as a string and she would be done; she moves her gaze over to Marvel with a small happy smile at the look on his face before noticing the identical looks of shock and awe on the faces of the rest of the group which caused her smile to go into a full blown grin of mischief.

Shrugging lightly at the question, she picks the bow up from the lap and places it carefully on the floor by her feet, the bow would be hers because she had a feeling Glimmer was getting used to the Capitol one while Onyx could work with anything; Marvel almost let out a sigh of relief as he realised he wasn't going to have to fight with her about finishing up for the night.

“I started trying to teach myself a few summers ago, the one I have at home was my tenth attempt and has lasted me longer than most of the others” she admits to him, she wasn't bothered by the fact that she knew something illegal, hunting was illegal and they already knew she could do that. “My friend helped me, her father taught her the basics of how to make the bow, so she taught me when I started showing a good knowledge of how to shoot; we learnt because District Twelve has little food but a forest along its borders, and neither of us were afraid of the forest”

“Weren’t you worried about getting caught?” Link asked her in shock at just how brave the girl was, he knew she was strong and she was slightly fearless when faced with something she thought was wrong but to go against the laws of the Capitol as well as the peacekeepers sounded like a death wish.

“All the time” Onyx answered as she leaned into Marvels side, finally getting the feeling back in her fingers, the day’s work was finally getting to her “But the electric fence around the Seam never had enough power to be turned on, and the need for food outweighed the fear of getting caught; it also helped that some of the peacekeepers knew that we were doing it but they craved fresh meat just as much as we did so they looked past it”

The fact that some of the peace keepers knew what the young girl was doing had sent the group reeling, until Thresh frowned at the information, he was happy his friend wouldn’t have gotten hurt but didn't like that she had to take such risks. “You’re lucky, the other districts peacekeepers would never have done that”

Looking over at the shock and slight jealousy on the others faces, she sighs lightly before looking down at her lap “That’s true, I know, but there's a reason District Twelve is so looked down upon, we only have coal as a source of income, which is dying out meaning we have to go deeper into the ground and risk the lives of the whole District above; we have nothing worth stealing, and the peace keepers that are sent there are sent as punishment or because they were close to failing. They hate the place as much as we do”

Thoughts of Darius popped into her mind, the young peacekeeper was originally from District Two but was sent to District Twelve because he didn't like how brutal they wanted him to be, he wanted to defend everyone, not just those that the rich believed to be defended; he was her friend who Marvel reminded her a lot of.

"There's one peacekeeper, I hope he get's somewhere safe with this rebellion, he was from District Two but was sent to District Twelve for his moral compass, he visits the local illegal market and trades with people just to give them some coins; he tries to do the same with me too but hates it when I send him to proper stalls instead"

Marvel listens to the story with a sad look on his face as he pulls her into him, he hoped that the peacekeeper was safe too because he needed to thank the man for helping Onyx survive long enough to enter the games and save them. “I’m glad that they never hurt you, you may never have been in the games if you had been hurt and we may all be dead by now”

The camp went silent at that small declaration and realised that it was the truth that Marvel spoke, a truth none of them wanted to really think about, if it wasn’t for Onyx then they would have all either been killed or one of them would have been left with the haunting truth that they had killed their friends.

“How about no more talk of this and we go to sleep for an early start” Rissa suggests carefully at the sombre silence that filled the little camp, the flickering of the fire showing just how pale she had become throughout the conversation.

“I’ll take first watch” Cato states quietly as he got up from besides the fire, moving towards a small spot on the outer circle of the camp before looking around them grimly, he had a lot to think about before he could sleep himself so knew being on first watch would help.

Frowning after the blonde, Onyx moved to go and talk to him and hand him the jacket that was still wrapped around her shoulders; but as she moves she ends up yawning which was caught by both Marvel and Clove so they both put their hands on her shoulders and pushed her gently down so that she was laying on the floor as she scowled at the both of them tiredly, it didn't take her long before she was losing the fight to stay awake and drifted off listening to Marvel and Clove talking.

* * *

After what only seemed like minutes but was a few hours, Onyx and the rest of the group are startled awake by a small shout of distress that had everyone going for their weapons or hiding the younger ones (Rue and Link who were hidden behind Thresh and Glimmer); looking over to where the shouts came from, Onyx slowly lowers the arrow that she had notched and moved over to where the sleeping Cato was shaking on the floor, caught in a nightmare as Clove sat close unable to help him.

Clove must have taken over watch when Onyx was asleep and probably ordered Cato to sleep only for him to be pulled into a nightmare, looking over to where Rue was, she was thankfully surprised to see the young girl was still asleep in her uncles arms; they didn't need a cranky twelve year old during their journey, it had already happened once, not again. Making a quick decision as she noticed the others didn't seem to know what to do, Onyx started towards where Cato was, shrugging Marvels hand from her arm as he went to stop her, he had been curled around Glimmer which seemed to have stopped both of their nightmares especially when Onyx was close to them too.

All six of the Careers had suffered from nightmares since they had gotten away from the force field, the first few nights were hell and none of them would sleep until they passed out but then one night Marvel had spotted that Glimmer was starting to be pulled into the throws of the horrors that troubled her and wrapped his arms around her which caused her to relax almost instantly before clutching his shirt and sleeping soundly for the whole night. Over the days, they had learnt that Glimmer and Marvel kept each others nightmares at bay while Link and Coral did the same, Clove seemed to sleep easier with Coral and Link or with Thresh and Rissa but Cato was yet to find his safety net yet.

However, Onyx was often the only one brave enough to try and wake him, it usually ended with him snapping at her when she throws water over him or shoves him.

Dropping down to her knees next to the boy, Onyx put her hand on his shoulder lightly, but this time instead of needing to shake him, Cato woke with a start his eyes going wide as he grabbed Onyx by the wrist, throwing her to the ground beside him and moving so he was straddling her; one of his hands grabbing her wrists and pushing them into the floor hard to incapacitate her while his other went up as if to hit her.

Not expecting the harsh reaction, Onyx just looked up at him wide eyed as she tried to catch her breath from where he had winded her from throwing her to the floor; she'd had rougher fights so wasn't to effected by the arm above her; she glances over at Marvel and shakes her head for him to stand down which also caused Clove to stand down as they eyed the scene in front of them wearily.

Looking back up at the blonde above her, Onyx could see that he was breathing erratically and looked like he had run a mile in minutes, his eyes were unfocused as he gazed down at her with a frown.

“Cato, its Nyx” she whispers softly and reassuringly as she tries to lock eyes with him, her whole body going limp underneath him to reassure him that she wasn't a threat. "Come on love, you need to wake up, no one is going to hurt you, you're safe"

The grip on her wrists tightens a little more causing Onyx to hold back a wince as her bones are ground together, but then the grip is gone and Cato is blinking and looking around him in confusion, his breathing slowing down as he looked down at the girl underneath him.

The blonde is caught between freaking out and blushing lightly at the position he was in before he rolled off of her, gulping lightly in worry, he looked over at Marvel and the others; Marvel was glaring at him but he could see the worry in his eyes while everyone else looked like they wanted to hug him and reassure him that he was okay.

“Sorry” he mutters softly to Onyx as his tired mind realised what had happened, he was shocked that when he moved to get far away from her, Onyx, instead, jumped up to her feet and took his wrist in her hand, she knew it was risky but she wasn’t letting him go.

“Don’t be” she reassures him gently as she squeezes his wrist in reassurance that she wasn't scared of him even though he had her on her back. “it was a nightmare and I shouldn’t have been so close, not with what you guys are terrorised by”

Cato eyes her closely before moving his gaze down at his wrist confused as to why she was so willing to be around him, he carefully removed her hand from his wrist and held it carefully before sighing and shaking his head, moving away from them once again to a spot where he could be look out again.

Marvel frowned after his friend but didn't bother to scold or shout at him, it was a nightmare and Onyx didn't seem hurt by the small attack she had gone under; instead he takes Onyx’s hand and pulled her lightly back over to where Glimmer had curled back up so that the three of them could go back to sleep.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short filler chapter before the action comes into play, the survivors are near District 2

Onyx yawned loudly as she woke, stretching and rubbing her eyes as she tried to rid her eyes of the sleep that had gathered, she looked around her; tiredly taking in her surroundings; she cocked her head to the side curiously before shaking her head when she noticed that Cato had fallen back asleep while leaning against a tree, his neck was bent at an angle which couldn’t have been comfortable for him especially when he woke up.

Looking around, she noticed that everyone was slowly waking up as well, Marvel was barely awake sitting at the edge of their clearing acting as their last watch guard for that evening, it was usually Marvel who took watch last since he was an early riser and the others slept like the dead.

Climbing up from the floor with a groan, Onyx began stretching so that the joints and bones in her back and neck clicked back into place, sleeping on the floor wasn’t comfortable at all but it was much better than a fitful danger filled sleep within the arena that they had all gotten a lucky escape from.

Hearing the groan coming from inside the camp jolts Marvel awake as he watches his little sister climb up from the floor tiredly, he smiles at her tiredly before he also climbs up from the floor and does his usual post-wake up check over of Onyx and then the others who were all still asleep.

“You alright?” Marvel asked her tiredly as he followed her lead and rubbed the sleep from his eyes to wake himself up more before pulling her into a light hug when she was in arms length, Onyx smiled as he hugged her and closed her eyes at embrace, unlike before the reaping, she had started getting more physical touches from people she started to care about and she liked it but missed her father’s hugs.

“Sleepy” she answered him tiredly as she hesitantly pulled away from him with a small light smile.

Frowning lightly at her answer, Marvel runs his hand through her hair only to flinch a little when he caught his fingers in the knots that had formed in her hair; he pulled away carefully so that he didn’t hurt her. “You didn’t get much sleep did you?”

The answer was plain to see but Onyx shrugged anyway before shaking her head, she ran her fingers through her hair and decided that maybe she would ask Glimmer for help before the older girl could take over. 

“Can you wake Rue, Rissa, Coral, Link and Thresh up?” Marvel asked her as they both looked around at their small group of friends who were still fast asleep, they needed to keep going to try and hopefully make it to civilisation sooner than later.

Cocking her head to the side lightly at the list of people that she was being sent to wake up, she was unsure about the fact that she was waking those who weren't the careers other than Coral and Link. “Are you waking Cato up?” 

The idea didn't sound too good to the boy from One, he knew that his friend was dangerous, but he also knew that last night wasn't Cato's fault because of the night terrors that plagued whoever had killed another tribute in the games; he glanced over at his friend before snorting at the way the boy had managed to fall asleep.

“I don’t know yet” His friends reaction last night was a little terrifying to the older boy, it was like when they were back in the arena and he was worried about every passing moment when Cato was a threat to his ongoing survival; but it wasn't just his survival he worried about now, he was scared for the relationship that was forming between his new little sister and his best friend.

“I’ll wake him” Onyx decided as she patted him on the arm lightly in reassurance before moving away from him before he could protest like she knew he would, she bypassed the ones that Marvel originally asked her to wake before heading towards the sleeping danger.

Onyx sent a small reassuring smile over her shoulder at him as she moved over to the sleeping Cato, she would wake the other four up after she had been able to wake up Cato because that way they would miss it if the older boy once again acted violently.

As she reached the older boy, she couldn’t help but smile a little at how peaceful he looked without being upset by nightmares and terror; she takes a small mental picture of the moment before kneeling down beside him and presses her hand gently on his shoulder.

She takes a deep breath before shaking his shoulder lightly, this was either going to go wrong or she'd be able to wake him without any trouble from him. “Cato” 

As her voices begins to get to a level of sound that could be heard properly in his dreams, Cato jolted awake and looked around him frantically, his hands automatically going to the sword that was laying on the ground next to him but as soon as he noticed Onyx beside him, he calmed down and scowled at her and then over at Marvel who was watching the both of them cautiously.

“Why the hell did you let her wake me after what happened last night?” Cato demanded angrily at Marvel before moving his scowl over to Onyx, he climbed up from the floor and stormed past her over to the edge of the fire pit. 

Onyx frowned at the floor and then climbed up from where she had knelt to wake the boy, thankfully she didn’t need to wake up the others since Cato’s anger had woken everyone else up.

Huffing out in annoyance at the turn of events, Onyx marched away from where she stood and went to her pack before grabbing it, and the bow she had been working on, and leaving the rest of them behind as she continued on the path that they had been walking for a week solid.

She didn’t want to deal with Cato and his unresolved anger today, she also didn’t want to have looks of pity from the others either, none of them wanted to deal with Cato and his anger so she did and now she was facing the brunt of the negativity and she hated it.

“Onyx hold it!” Marvel shouted after her startled as she walked further than they could see her, he quickly grabbed his own items and began moving to catch up with her.

Rolling her eyes at his overreactions, the young girl kept moving forward towards what looked like an opening in the forest that had kept the safe for a week; she was annoyed at everyone this morning, even though the only people she had talked to properly was Marvel and Cato, she didn’t know if the others would annoy her even more and she really needed sleep, otherwise she would probably say something she would regret.

“Onyx I said stop!” Marvel shouted angrily at his little sister as he started to pick up the pace, followed groggily by the others who weren't fully aware of what was happening, he couldn’t believe how stupid she was being, walking off on her own.

Cato was right beside Marvel in his thoughts of annoyance as well as his pace to try and reach the girl before she could further away from them and the safety that they could provide with her.

"Onyx get back here!" Cato growled out in annoyance and worry for the young girl who was being the most stubborn person ever at the moment, he knew that they were all going to have to deal with her stubbornness during the journey but he didn't really want to have to deal with it half asleep.

"Clove why isn't Onyx listening to Cato or Marvel?" Rue yawned from Thresh's arms as they tried to keep up with the three arguing tributes.

Marvel growls as he notices Onyx picking up the pace to get away from the group "It's because she's being a brat Rue"

Onyx lets out a noise of annoyance as she spins on her heel to face her surrogate older brother and his friend, the group slowing to a stop as they realised that the one they were following had finally paused in her storming off; she glares at the two older boys in anger.

Opening her mouth to let out an angry rant aimed at the boys for their overprotective nature and stubbornness but is interrupted by an almighty crack that echoed throughout the forest.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A district comes into play and one of the tributes family give life saving help and help for the future safety of the survivors

Kaylynn froze as time seemed to stop around her, the clearing had gone silent, no birds were chirping, the trees stood still as the breeze had frozen with the crack of the gun.

Time started to move again as pain shot through the young girls abdomen, Marvel, Thresh and Cato all rushed into action as Rissa and Clove both threw knives at the rushing peacekeepers, Glimmer grabbed the spare bow and started letting arrows loose as Coral and Link grabbed Rue and rushed into trees to hide the little girl.

Cato shouts in anger as he rushes to the nearest peacekeeper, who just happened to be the one who pulled the trigger that had hit Kaylynn. He attacks in anger grabbing the man and snapping his neck like it was a twig. Thresh joins Cato in using their bare hands to attack, he cared about the young girl who had helped them escape killing each other, helped keep his little niece safe, not that anyone knew the connection between Rue and him.

As the two large boys ran into the fray, the peacekeepers gave up on using their guns, with the boys in close quarters, they may have better chance of hitting them but there’s still the chance that while they were reloading, they would get hit and killed in minutes.

Marvel rushed to Kaylynn’s side as she started to fall from the gunshot wound in her abdomen, he catches her in his arms before she hits the ground and drops to the floor on his knees so that she was laying comfortably on the ground.

“You’re okay” Marvel tells her desperately as he holds his little sister close to him, the both of them look up numbly, watching as the large group of peacekeepers fell one by one to knives, arrows and the two large boys bare hands.

“Should have waited for you huh” Kaylynn gasps as Marvel presses his hands to Kay’s abdomen to slow the bleeding.

“Cato stop!” Clove shouts pulling the surrogate siblings away from each other and looks over at the brute from district two.

Cato was angrily pummelling an already dead peacekeeper, his fist covered in blood as the peacekeepers face caved In. Cato had lost himself in his anger though and had continued to release his anger on someone he blamed for his anger and upset.

Gasping lightly at the pain, Kaylynn shakily and slowly tries to climb up from Marvels arms, at first he protests slightly but knowing that she needed to calm the older boy down, he helps her up and more or less drags her over to the angry boy.

Placing her hand on Cato’s shoulder lightly, Kaylynn clenches her jaw as she tries to keep back the whimpers of pain, she could feel herself getting weaker as the blood flowed freely from the wound in her abdomen, she was lucky that the bullet hadn’t gone a little further in and ruptured her stomach otherwise she would have been dead within moments as the stomach acid would have eaten away at her body with no chance of healing.

Cato stops punching the body on the ground in front of him and spins to punch whoever had stopped him, but as soon as he sees that Kaylynn was beside him as white as a sheet with Marvel helping her stay standing, he stopped and instantly pulled her down into his arms, pressing his hand to her abdomen.

“Coral grab the medical supplies” Cato shouts angrily as he presses down harder than Marvel had causing Kaylynn to let out a gasp of pain and grip Marvels hand tightly. “How the hell are you still conscious let alone standing?”

Kaylynn lets out a small laugh as she felt the adrenaline slowly leave her, she leans into Cato’s chest as Coral comes running to their side with a small pack in her hands. “Stubbornness”

“We don’t have much” Coral whimpers apologetically as she pulls out some bandages and thankfully a shot of adrenaline “She’ll be a goner quite quickly if we don’t get her proper care”

Cato looks like he’s ready to kill Coral for bringing him bad news but Marvel puts his free hand on the other boys shoulder to stop him from fighting one of their allies. He takes the shot of adrenaline from Coral and sends an apologetic look to Kaylynn before stabbing the needle into her heart and injecting her instantly.

Kaylynn cries out in pain as the needle stabs through her chest and tightens her grip on her brother’s hand almost breaking his fingers after he caused her pain.

“Is Kay going to be okay?” Rue whimpers quietly as she hides behind Link, watching the scene unfold in front of her, she was scared for her new best friend, and she could see the blood soaking up her shirt and was scared that she was going to lose her.

Both of the older boys look up at the youngest of the group and then down at the person that was the heart of their small group of survivors. Coral had lifted the girl’s shirt up and started to haphazardly stitch the wound close as best as she could with a fish hook and wire to slow down the bleeding and keep the girl alive for a little longer

“We should be near a district” Kaylynn whispers softly, she couldn’t feel the fish hook going in and out of her skin, her abdomen and below was slowly going numb now even with the adrenaline running through her.

Everyone’s attention was brought down to the young girl and the statement that she had just made, but they all looked confused, everyone except for Glimmer who caught the girls’ train of thought.

“Such a big group wouldn’t have travelled far from a district” Glimmer adds on “They would have sent a smaller group if they were far away from a district and would have taken better precautions if they expected to find us”

“They didn’t think we’d be here?” Rissa asks confused and then jumps a little when Cato gets up from the floor, lifting Kaylynn up from the floor bridal style.

“Whatever they expected to find, I don’t care” Cato growls and looks around them, the whole group looked surprised and confused at Cato’s statement “If we’re near, One, Two, Three, Four, Eleven or even twelve. We all have somewhere that may be able to help Kaylynn survive, all our families might help the symbol of rebellion, so we need to find out where we are so we can get her the help she needs”

“My mom would help her, dad might not but also might because I’m alive because of her” Marvel states as he looks around and then moves to grab his and Kaylynn’s packs from the floor where the both of them had dropped them

The rest of them follow his example and grab their packs as well as their weapons, keeping their weapons close so that if they were accosted again, they could fight before any of them got hurt again.

“My dad might actually give us up” Cato shrugs lightly watching as Clove grabbed his pack and his sword so that Kaylynn was the only weight he carried “He relies on the Capitol too much, and helps with the training of Peacekeepers”

“We need to hurry” Clove states urgently interrupting their conversations as she notices that Kaylynn was getting paler and falling into unconscious in Cato’s arms.

Looking down at the young girl in his, Cato nods and picks up the pace so that he is almost running and trying not to jostle the young girl too much.

\----

“Please, just let us stay until she heals”

Kaylynn groans lightly as she hears raised voices around her, her fingers twitch to get to her bow but she wasn’t in the forest anymore. Where was she?

She could feel heat around her, the softness of a blanket covering her and pillows keeping her head up, but she shouldn’t be near any pillows, they were in the forest the last time she remembered but then the memories of the day passed through her mind.

The crack of the gun, the pain in her abdomen. Cato’s anger and Marvels sadness.

Kaylynn gasps and shoots up from where she was sitting, did the peacekeepers get them? Why wasn’t she dead, after all she supposedly caused the rebellion along with her dad? She looks around her frantically, but there was no one in the room with her.

Dropping off of the bed that she was laying in, she is shocked to feel no pain shooting through her, looking down at her abdomen, Kay lifts the loose top that she was wearing and is surprised to see a clean white bandage wrapped around her clean waist. She looks around her scared and spots a scissors on a table across from her.

A door opening shocks Kaylynn into action as she rolls across the floor and grabs the scissors from the table, turning so that she was wielding the scissors towards the intruder but she is shocked when she sees Cato in the doorway.

Feeling both shocked and happy, Cato relaxes against the doorway but then tenses when he feels someone’s presence behind him.

“She’s healed, now get her out of here” A male voice states harshly causing Kaylynn to go defensive again as she looks up at the man behind Cato.

Kaylynn tightened her grip on the scissors and observes the man that was standing behind Cato, she could easily tell who he was. He was Cato’s’ father. She could make out where Cato got his good looks from but the man had light brown hair rather than blonde but he had Cato’s ice blue eyes and was just as strong as his son too.

“Kay calm down” Cato tells her softly as he sends a glare over his shoulder, he moves further into the room to where the young girl was kneeling with the scissors as a weapon. He gently puts his hand over hers and removes the scissors from her hand as she watches the unknown man behind Cato, she didn’t know if he was an ally or an enemy.

Cato sighs as he looks over the young girl “You broke your stitches”

Kaylynn looks at him confused then looks down at her waist where he saw red pooling on the white shirt that she had been put into. Cato looks over at his father with a glare and lifts the girl up into his arms ignoring her protests. She was fourteen not four.

“He won’t hurt you Kay, will you dad?” His voice went harder as he turns his attention to his father. His father assess his son, he had never seen Cato like this unless he was with his younger siblings and usually he never showed his father this side of him.

“You need to get her out of here Cato” Caleb tells his son sternly, “if people around here notice more people in the house, then they will gossip and I won’t be able to stop the peacekeepers from coming, it’s been difficult keeping the missing group from being reported as it is”

Kay looks over at Cato’s father studying him, he looked at Cato like her father used to before anyone knew of their connection, and he was hiding his feelings for his son.

Cato looks over at his father curiously, he didn’t know he was helping them at work, he thought his father was just being a jackass.

“Can you get mom for me?” Cato asks ignoring the small order, he needed to stop the bleeding of the wound, they weren’t able to get the proper medicines to instantly close the wound but his mom knew medicine anyway so she was very helpful. “Kay needs to get the stitches redone before we can head out”

Kaylynn instantly lifts the shirt up and over her head, but this time Cato doesn’t look away, he just rolls his eyes while Caleb looks away causing his son to smirk.

“She’s not shy dad, plus she has her bindings around her chest so nothing is showing” Cato smirks causing Caleb to turn and glare at his son. He turns his small glare to the young girl and moves to the table to grab the medical supplies that was left there by his wife after she had looked after the girl.

“You shouldn’t do that young lady” Caleb scolds as he moves the small table over to the bed where Kaylynn was leaning into Cato watching the older man cautiously.

“Where’s Marvel?” Kaylynn asks Cato quietly as she eyes the needle and wire in the man’s hands cautiously, she was numb the first time and unconscious the second time. She didn’t want stitches again.

“Sleeping, Rissa and Glimmer made him take some sleeping medication so that he would actually get some sleep before we left” Cato tells her quietly and leans over to grab the numbing serum from the table, handing it to his dad who had taken off the bandage.

Caleb nods in thanks for the needle and gently injects the area of the wound with the serum, he looks up at the young girl with a small reassuring sigh which confused the hell out of Cato.

“My husband uses his medical qualifications for good at last” A woman’s voice says sarcastically from the doorway making all three of them jump, luckily Caleb hadn’t started stitching the wound closed yet.

Kaylynn grips Cato’s arm cautiously as she looks up at the woman, Cato’s mother but then she smiles as she sees Glimmer and Link dying to run to her and see if she was okay casing her to relax, if Glimmer and Link were relaxed then she was safe, they were more cautious than her most of the time.

“What happened Caleb, Cato?” the woman asked as she came into the room followed by the two tributes.

“She tore her stitches grabbing the scissors from the table across the room to use as a weapon” Caleb explained ignoring the jab at him helping the girl.

Kaylynn glances up at Glimmer sheepishly as the girl rolls her eyes “I thought the peacekeepers had gotten us”

“They have” Cato mutters glaring at his father a little, Caleb looks up at his son and rolls his eyes at the quiet remark before starting to stitch the wound closed again.

The six occupants of the room all sit in silence after the remark, leaving Caleb work in silence. Once he finishes and grabs a bandage to rewrap Kaylynn’s waist, he looks up at his son with worry and sorry in his eyes but Cato couldn’t see it. Kay could.

“There’s a supply train leaving here, going down to District Eleven so that they can put their supplies on there and bring them back” Caleb tells Cato flatly “I won’t put any peacekeepers on there, I’ll just say it was a rota mix up, get out of here and get them safe”

Cato, Glimmer and Link all look at Caleb surprised and grateful, Cato’s mother smiles proudly at her husband, Cato turns to Glimmer and nods lightly.

“Go get the others, we need to pack our stuff and get out of here, we’ve been here too long already” Cato orders lightly.

Glimmer nods and pulls Link out of the room with her, Cato turns to his mother and nods lightly with a small smile “I’m sorry we couldn’t stay any longer, will you and the boys be safe?”

Cato’s mother smiles at her son and moves to place a kiss on his brow “We’ll be fine, come get some food that you and the others will like for your journey”

Cato opens his mouth to protest as he holds Kay a little tighter, the young girl rolls her eyes at his protectiveness and flicks his forehead lightly, shocking the other occupants “Go help your mom, your father won’t hurt me, after all he did just stop me from bleeding out again”

Looking between the two of them Cato sighs releasing his grip on the girl and following his mother out of the room with one last look over his shoulder to Kay and his dad.

“You need to tell him how you feel” Kaylynn breaks the silence as she looks around the room, keeping her eyes away from the man. “He thinks you would sell us out for the Capitol, he thinks you care more about the Capitol than him”

“Well that’s bullshit” Caleb exclaims making Kaylynn smirk lightly, she knew that Cato was wrong, she could see that clearly.

“Which is why you need to tell him that” Kaylynn tells him lightly as she moves to grab the shirt that she had been wearing when she had woken up.

Caleb puts his hand on Kaylynn’s to stop her from putting the shirt back on and gets up, moving towards the chest of draws that held his sons clothes, while they were too big for the young girl, they were clean and could help them all disguise themselves to get to the train without any trouble. He was putting some uniforms on the train so they could hopefully get through districts three to eleven without trouble.

Kay happily puts on the clean shirt and smiles lightly accepting the hand of the man to help her down from the bed so she wouldn’t tear her new stitches.

“It’s too late” Caleb tells her sadly, he had wondered why his son was so cautious of him while he was here now.

“Maybe not” Kaylynn tells him “Maybe you could help the rebellion that is starting, that would show him the truth, just try, everyone needs a dad in their life”

Caleb looks at the young girl closely and smiles lightly, he could see why the other districts could stand behind her and Abernathy to stand against the Capitol and Snow.

“The reason I never stood against the Capitol is my children and my wife, I can’t see them hurt, and I keep quiet so I don’t hurt them” Caleb explains lightly as he grabs one of the hats from his oldest sons’ draws.

Taking a brush that his wife had left by the bed when she brushed the young girl’s hair, he moves behind the girl and brushes her hair lightly and puts it in a bun on top of her head so he could use the hat to hide it. “I see a different side of my son with you, and a different side of Clove, she and that boy from one stayed by your side after my wife took care of the wound and dirt. You helped the both of them get out of the arena without hurting each other”

He puts the cap on the girls head and moves to her front nodding lightly at the disguise, it wasn’t perfect but it would work for those in the district since they were all too worried about rebels in other clothing rather than someone in district two clothing.

“I didn’t mean too” She tells him honestly as she readjusts the hat a little so she could see “I wanted to go home to my dad, I’ve never liked the Capitol because of the situation my district is in, I’m glad that it happened though, I have a new family, I’ve been through more with this family than my other family in district twelve”

Caleb smiles lightly at the young girl and puts his hand on her back to propel her forward a little so that they could move into the living room where the rest of the group stood. Marvel sat on the couch yawning and rubbing his eyes but when he sees his little doe walking into the room, he immediately runs to her side and pulls her into a hug, making sure not to hurt her.

Caleb looks over at Cato who stood watching him wearily with a bag of food over his shoulder, their weapons were all hidden in bags and each of them were in new clothing to hide who they were, each of the girls had something covering their features while the boys had some make up on to give them an older look or make them look completely different.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t do more” Caleb tells his son making him freeze in shock.

“You’ve done enough” Cato stammers lightly.

Kaylynn pulls away from Marvel and moves over to Cato’s mother, she shocks the woman by pulling her into a light hug.

“Thank you for saving my life, I hope we haven’t brought you and your family any trouble, maybe next time we meet I can meet Cato’s siblings too” Kaylynn tells the woman smiling lightly causing the woman to smile back at the young girl.

“It was the least I could do for you saving my son” Cato’s mother replies patting the girls shoulder lightly.

Kaylynn smiles and moves over to Rue who was being held back by Thresh so that she wouldn’t injure the fourteen year old and cause the stitches to break. She quickly pulls the little girl into a hug and leans into Thresh at the same time to reassure him that she was okay. The only ones left that she needed to reassure were Coral, Rissa and Clove but she knew there was no time right now.

“It’s time to go” Clove states as she moves from the window, checking to make sure the street was empty, she sends a quick look to Kaylynn who smiles lightly and nods to reassure her that she was okay.

The two adults look at the small group of survivors in front of them and nod.

“Cato, there’s peacekeeper uniforms on the train for you boys, keep the girls hidden and you should be okay” Caleb told his son.

Cato nods and moves to the head of the group at the door, he looks over at his shoulder at his parents and sends a hesitant smile before opening the door and leaving the safety of his old childhood home to catch a train that may be their saviour or their grave.


End file.
